Canarian Oystercatcher

The Canarian Oystercatcher or Canary Islands Oystercatcher, Haematopus meadewaldoi, was a shorebird endemic to Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, and their offshore islets (Islote de Lobos and the Chinijo Archipelago) in the Canary Islands, Spain.

Hockey (1982) showed that the Canarian Oystercatcher was a full species distinct from the African Oystercatcher Haematopus moquini, of which it was formerly considered a subspecies; these two were occasionally lumped as subspecies of the Eurasian Oystercatcher. Though this bird was long known to naturalists, it was considered a mere local population of the African Black Oystercatcher until 1913 (Bannerman 1913).