The sighting of a few Eurasian oystercatchers at Kadalundi-Vallikkunnu Community Reserve in the last week of August has surprised the researchers studying the habits of migrant shorebirds reaching Kadalundi. One of the largest waders with black and white plumage and strong broad red bills, Eurasian oystercatchers were not a common sight in Kadalundi.
Researchers T.R. Athira and P.K. Sujesh saw a few of them in the mudflats of Kadalundi last week. “It was surprising that we could observe those birds here many weeks before the wintering season began,” said Ms. Athira, researcher from Government College, Madappally. According to them, the migrant wader from Eurasian regions have chosen Kadalundi either as a stop-over on their way to some other wintering destination or as a favourite feeding ground to escape the harsh winter. “The third possibility is that they have over-summered in Kadalundi because of some issues in their physical fitness to fly back to their breeding grounds,” said Ms. Athira. The research team had observed a pair of Eurasian oystercatchers in Kadalundi in December last year. That was the first time after a gap of several years the oystercatcher was noticed at Kadalundi.
Eurasian oystercatcher is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as near-threatened. They use their strong bills to prise open mollusks and mussels. Although oysters do not form a large part of their food, Kadalundi, where oysters are aplenty, has immense potential to help those birds to live up to their name.