The black oystercatcher (''Haematopus bachmani'') is a conspicuous black
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
found on the shoreline of western
North America. It ranges from the
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...
of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
to the coast of the
Baja California peninsula.
The black oystercatcher is the only representative of the
oystercatcher
The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The ...
family (Haematopodidae) over most of its range, overlapping slightly with the
American oystercatcher
The American oystercatcher (''Haematopus palliatus''), occasionally called the American pied oystercatcher, is a member of family Haematopodidae. Originally called the "sea pie", it was renamed in 1731 when naturalist Mark Catesby observed the ...
(''H. palliatus'') on the coast of Baja California. Within its range it is most commonly referred to as the black oystercatcher, although this name is also used locally for the
blackish oystercatcher
The blackish oystercatcher (''Haematopus ater'') is a species of wading bird in the oystercatcher family Haematopodidae. It is found in Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and Peru, and is a vagrant to Uruguay. The population is estimated at ...
and the
African oystercatcher
The African oystercatcher or African black oystercatcher (''Haematopus moquini''), is a large charismatic wader resident to the mainland coasts and offshore islands of southern Africa. This near-threatened oystercatcher has a population of over ...
. Its scientific name is derived by
John James Audubon from that of his friend
John Bachman
John Bachman (February 4, 1790 – February 24, 1874) was an American Lutheran minister, social activist and naturalist who collaborated with John James Audubon to produce ''Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America'' and whose writings, particul ...
.
Although the species is not considered threatened, its global population size is estimated between 8,900–11,000 individuals. The black oystercatcher is a species of high conservation concern throughout its range (U.S., Canadian, Alaskan, and Northern & Southern Pacific Shorebird Conservation Plans), a keystone indicator species along the north Pacific shoreline, a management
indicator species in the
Chugach National Forest, and a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service focal species for priority conservation action.
Description
The black oystercatcher is a large entirely black
shorebird
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
, with a long (9 cm) bright red bill and pink legs. It has a bright yellow
iris
Iris most often refers to:
*Iris (anatomy), part of the eye
*Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess
* ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
* Iris (color), an ambiguous color term
Iris or IRIS may also refer to:
Arts and media
Fictional ent ...
and a red eye-ring. Its
plumage varies slightly from north to south, being darker further north.
Behavior
The black oystercatcher is restricted in its range, never straying far from shores, in particular favoring rocky shorelines. It has been suggested that this bird is seen mostly on
coastal stretches which have some quieter embayments, such as
jetty
A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying some ...
protected areas. It forages in the
intertidal zone, feeding on marine
invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s, particularly
molluscs such as
mussels,
limpets and
chitons. It will also take
crabs,
isopods and
barnacles. It hunts through the intertidal area, searching for food visually, often so close to the water's edge it has to fly up to avoid crashing surf. It uses its strong bill to dislodge food and pry shells open.
The black oystercatcher is a territorial bird during the nesting season, defending a foraging and nesting area in one territory. Some pairs have been recorded staying together for many years. Nests are small bowls or depressions close to the shore in which small pebbles and shell fragments are tossed in with a sideward or backward flick of the bill.
Around 2 to 3
egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
s are laid in this nest, these are very hard and can even survive being submerged by a high tide or very high water levels. Incubation takes around 26–28 days. The chicks are capable of leaving the nest after one day, and will stay in the territory for a long time after
fledging
Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight.
This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerable c ...
(40 days). The fledged juveniles will stay in the territory until the next breeding season. If the parents
migrate, that year's chicks will migrate with them; this happens more often in the north of the range.
Gallery
Image: Black Oystercatcher.jpg, Black oystercatcher in Esquimalt
The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquim ...
Lagoon, British Columbia
Image:Black Oystercatcher -IMGP1537.jpg, Black oystercatcher in Pacific Rim National Park
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a national park located in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises three separate regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group Islands, and the West Coast Trail. Its the Pacific Coast Mountains, are characterized ...
Image:Black Oystercatcher - IMGP1549.jpg, Black oystercatcher in Pacific Rim National Park
See also
*
Blackish oystercatcher
The blackish oystercatcher (''Haematopus ater'') is a species of wading bird in the oystercatcher family Haematopodidae. It is found in Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and Peru, and is a vagrant to Uruguay. The population is estimated at ...
References
*Black Oystercatcher, ''The Birds of North America'' No 155 B. Andres & G. Falxa
External links
American black oystercatcher videoson the Internet Bird Collection
VIREO-(includes picture of egg
clutch)
*
ttp://www.whsrn.org/sites/default/files/file/Black_Oystercatcher_Conservation_Action_Plan_10_02-28_v1.1.pdf Black Oystercatcher Conservation Action Planfrom U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
Summary of Black Oystercatcher Conservation Plan in English and Spanishfrom Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
{{Taxonbar, from=Q576024
Haematopus
Shorebirds
Native birds of Alaska
Native birds of the West Coast of the United States
Birds of Mexico
Birds described in 1838
Taxa named by John James Audubon
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN