These include ringed plover, little ringed plover, shelduck and oystercatchers. It also occasionally supports large numbers of pied oystercatchers, double-banded plovers and breeding fairy terns. Seabirds such as spotted shags, sooty shearwaters and variable oystercatchers are commonly seen. Waikanae Beach is populated by terns, seagulls, oystercatchers, and stilts. The wildlife protects coastal creatures including seabirds, oystercatchers, and gulls. Nearby areas provide summer habitats for snipe, greenshanks, oystercatchers, lapwings and others. The nearby beach at Ballynamona is on a wildlife sanctuary and herons, oystercatchers and sandhoppers. The island is a breeding site for oystercatchers, chough, skylark and wheatear. Some water birds such as oystercatchers feed on shellfish. The island covers an area of and is home to seagulls, oystercatchers and pipits. As with all oystercatchers, its diet consisted of small molluscs and crustaceans rather than oysters. The call is a distinctive loud piping, very similar to Eurasian oystercatchers. All Stewart Island variable oystercatchers are black. The eggs of oystercatchers are spotted and cryptic. American oystercatchers breed between April and July.