preferred habitat is a wide range of coastal habitat types varying depending on activity and habitat available. Haematopus unicolor is generally never found more than 30 km from the coast. Breeding and nesting occurs on sandy coasts, usually far from muddy harbours. Individuals have been known to congregate in short grassed paddocks and sometimes forage in pastures after rain however will generally remain around the coastal beaches, estuaries and shorelines. They prefer sandy coastal areas and avoid gravel beaches and boulder strewn areas. They nest on the shore between rocks or on sand dunes by making a scrape out of the sand or shingle, sometimes lined with some seaweed. Behaviour Voice When in flight they make a high pitched '' sound. Feeding Feeding behaviour is diurnal and nocturnal with no feeding occurring two hours either side of high tide. The birds will then start feeding as the tide ebbs. Food is located mainly by visual location but when it is dark or the food is obscured by the substrate, they will locate food via random probing with the bill. Their diet consists of a range of molluscs, crustaceans, worms, small invertebrates and sometimes small fish. The molluscs are mainly bivalves and are opened by the birds by using the bill to stab and twist them open. Some birds have been observed to hammer them open. After heavy rain, they sometime go inland in search of earthworms. Breeding As a sedentary species, the oystercatchers do not travel to a specific location to mate. Instead, they breed on the coastal sand dunes where they live nearly year-round. After finding a potential mate, the male oystercatcher will give a territorial display to both impress the female and scare off other males. This display includes several 'bowing' or 'ducking' movements, where the bird tilts and dips its head while making piping calls. These movements are also used to distinguish territory space outside of the mating season, when the adult birds prefer living in solitary environments. After a female has decided to breed with a male, the pair remains monogamous during the rest of the mating season and potentially for several consecutive years thereafter. During breeding, the pair will defend their territory, sometimes aggressively. Stone-coloured eggs, usually in clutches of 2–3, are laid from September to December, and the nest is incubated by both parents until the chicks hatch. They usually lay 2-3 eggs but