The South Island oystercatcher or South Island pied oystercatcher is one of two common oystercatcher species found in New Zealand. Its name is often contracted to the acronym "SIPO". The indigenous Māori name is tōrea. The scientific name commemorates the German ethnographer, naturalist and colonial explorer Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch.
Region
New Zealand and southeastern Australia
Typical Environment
Breeds primarily on the South Island, especially on braided riverbeds, stony flats, tussock grasslands, and adjacent pasture. Outside the breeding season it moves widely to coastal mudflats, sandflats, estuaries, lagoons, and sheltered harbors throughout New Zealand. Smaller numbers cross the Tasman Sea to winter on coasts of southeastern Australia, including Tasmania and Victoria. It favors intertidal areas with abundant bivalves and worms, and roosts on sandspits, shellbanks, and saltmarsh edges.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1200 m
Climate Zone
Temperate
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Often called SIPO, this striking black-and-white shorebird is New Zealand’s commonest oystercatcher, known to Māori as tōrea. It breeds mainly on the South Island’s inland riverbeds and farmland, then forms large post‑breeding flocks that shift to coastal estuaries across New Zealand and sometimes to southeastern Australia. Its strong, chisel-like orange bill is adapted to prying open bivalves and probing mud. Flocks can number in the thousands on rich tidal flats in late summer and autumn.
South Island oystercatcher (Haematopus finschi) foraging for food
Temperament
social and active
Flight Pattern
strong, direct flight with rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Pairs defend breeding territories on open ground, nesting in shallow scrapes on gravel or short pasture. Both adults incubate and tend the chicks, which are precocial and leave the nest shortly after hatching. After breeding, birds gather into large flocks at rich estuaries and sandflats for feeding and roosting.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Calls are loud, clear piping whistles and sharp ‘kleep-kleep’ notes, carrying over long distances on open shorelines. Agitated birds give rapid, repetitive piping during territorial displays and when predators approach nests.
