• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Climate Change maps
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2017	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	C1
2012	Near Threatened	C1
2008	Near Threatened	C1
2006	Near Threatened
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1994	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1988	Near Threatened

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type	continent shelf island	Average mass	692 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	705,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	1,840,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	4450 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2014
Population trend	increasing	-	estimated	-
Generation length	13.4 years	-	-	-

Population justification: Population genetics suggest that there has been a low historical population size (Bray and Hockey 2015). Based on data from shoreline counts and aerial surveys, the population is now estimated at 6,670 individuals (Underhill 2014), roughly equivalent to 4,450 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The population is thought to be increasing thanks to improved habitat management on near-shore islands, with a c.45% increase between 1979/1980 and the early 2000s (Underhill 2014, Loewenthal et al. 2015). There have been some local declines, but it appears possible that in a large number of cases these declines may be a result of individuals moving to adjacent habitats after a site has experienced some degradation (in 72% of cases where a site showed a decline, the adjacent areas showed a population increase) (Loewenthal et al. 2015). Analysis of data from the South African Bird Atlas Project 1 and 2 show an increase in range size and reporting rates for this species (Brown et al. 2019).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native			yes
Mozambique	extant	vagrant			yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Namibia	Lüderitz Bay islands
Namibia	Mercury Island
Namibia	Mile 4 saltworks
Namibia	Namib-Naukluft Park
Namibia	Possession Island
Namibia	Sandwich Harbour
Namibia	Sperrgebiet
Namibia	Walvis Bay
South Africa	Algoa Bay Islands: Addo Elephant National Park
South Africa	Dassen Island
South Africa	De Hoop Nature Reserve
South Africa	Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve
South Africa	Dyer Island Nature Reserve
South Africa	Maitland - Gamtoos coast
South Africa	Rietvlei Wetland: Table Bay Nature Reserve
South Africa	Robben Island
South Africa	Swartkops Estuary - Redhouse and Chatty Saltpans
South Africa	West Coast National Park and Saldanha Bay islands
South Africa	Woody Cape Section: Addo Elephant National Park

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	major	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	major	resident
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	major	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches	major	resident
Marine Intertidal	Tidepools	major	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Unspecified species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 3
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Larus dominicanus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Residential & commercial development	Tourism & recreation areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: African Oystercatcher Haematopus moquini. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/african-oystercatcher-haematopus-moquini on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.