Black Oystercatcher

Overview

Black Oystercatcher: Large stocky brown-black shorebird with long,bright orange bill and glaring yellow eyes with contrasting orange eyering. The legs and feet are pink. Feeds primarily on limpets and other shellfish, also eats mussels and marine worms. Rapid direct flight with shallow wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Black Oystercatcher: Favors outer coastlines and rocky headlands from Alaska to Baja California. May use tidal mudflats during winter.

INTERESTING FACTS

Although they don’t swim, chicks will sometimes dive under water to avoid predators.
Migrating only short distances or not at all, they are permanent residents of their breeding range.
The Black Oystercatcher can live for more that 15 years.
A group of oystercatchers are collectively known as a "parcel" of oystercatchers.

The Black Oystercatcher is native to the United States, Mexico and Canada. This bird has a fairly large range, covering up to 260,000 square kilometers. It is believed that the population of this bird is nearing 11,000 individual birds and that at the current time the population of the Black Oystercatcher is stable and is not in danger of decreasing. Currently, the Black Oystercatcher is rated as Least Concern, which is a rating that is downgraded from Lower Risk in 2000.