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First Eurasian Oystercatcher Nest in Lazio Used an Active Kentish Plover Nest

Eurasian oystercatcher standing over eggs in its nest
Research · Reproduction & development

The first documented breeding attempt by Eurasian oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) in Lazio, Italy, involved an unusual nest site: the birds laid their eggs in an active nest of kentish plover (Anarhynchus alexandrinus) from which two plover eggs had been removed. The observation was published on 3 June 2026 and also represents the southernmost known nesting site for Eurasian oystercatcher in Italy.

The nest was found during monitoring of kentish plovers along the Lazio coast at Furbara-Scoglietti. The first oystercatcher egg was laid on 30 April 2025 on a sandy beach where public access was limited and partly prohibited.

The male lacked the toes on one foot

The author notes that the male oystercatcher lacked all toes on its left foot and had been observed in the area for at least two years. Because oystercatchers normally scrape a shallow nest depression, the paper proposes that this injury may have made it difficult for the male to dig in the sand and may help explain why the pair used the existing kentish plover nest.

The author discusses the takeover as a possible example of brood parasitism, here referring to the use of another species’ active nest after its eggs had been displaced. The female oystercatcher was observed incubating the eggs herself. One displaced plover egg was found intact about a metre from the nest, but the paper does not establish exactly how the eggs were removed.

The breeding attempt failed after 24 days of incubation

The oystercatcher eggs were incubated for 24 days. They then disappeared and were considered likely to have been taken by a canid. Eggshell fragments found near the nest were later analysed for chromium, nickel, mercury, manganese and zinc. All five metals were detected, but the author notes that the lack of reference data for Eurasian oystercatcher eggshells makes the biological significance of the concentrations difficult to assess.

kentish plover and little ringed plover (Charadrius dubius) also nested within a few dozen metres of the oystercatcher nest. The author places the record among the relatively few breeding attempts by Eurasian oystercatchers along Italy’s Tyrrhenian coast.

Sources and image credit

  1. Pietrelli, L. (2026). Brood parasitism: the first nest of the Eurasian Oystercatcher in Lazio (Italy) could be an example. Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia, 96(1), 72–77.

Image: John Haslam / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr; Dornoch, Scotland, 13 April 2007; representative photograph, cropped to 16:9 · CC BY 2.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ · Source

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Reproduction & development

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus Explore species Kentish Plover Anarhynchus alexandrinus Explore species

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