African Oystercatcher Haematopus Moquini Research Articles

Taxonomic status of the extinct Canary Islands Oystercatcher Haematopus meadewaldoi

Mitochondrial genes were sequenced from four specimens of the extinct Canary Islands Oystercatcher Haematopus meadewaldoi and compared with African Oystercatcher Haematopus moquini, Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus and an old unidentified extralimital ‘black’ oystercatcher specimen from The Gambia. At these loci, H. meadewaldoi was approximately 99.65% identical to multiple Eurasian Oystercatcher samples and in phylogenetic trees fell within the range of genetic variation observed in that species. The mystery Gambian bird was resolved as an extralimital H. moquini. We conclude that H. meadewaldoi was most likely a recently diverged melanistic morph or subspecies of H. ostralegus, although further genomic studies will be required to determine whether there has been a period of isolation followed by introgression.

First report of a hatched, hand‐reared, and released African oystercatcher

The African oystercatcher Haematopus moquini is a near-threatened wader that is endemic to southern Africa. In the past, the species suffered a drastic decrease in nesting success due to human disturbance. We present the case report of an African oystercatcher that was hatched, hand-reared, and released in the Western Cape, South Africa. African oystercatchers are semi-altricial birds that tend to be highly sensitive to stress; as a result, strategies to minimize stress and the employment of surrogate parents and pre-release acclimatization are important to ensure post-release survival of hand-reared chicks. Considering the lack of literature on the incubation and hand-rearing of oystercatchers, this case report provides a basis for the development of hand-rearing techniques that might be useful for the protection of this and other threatened wader species.