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The American oystercatcher, Haematopus palliatus, is one of seven species belonging to the Family Haematopodidae, and one of two that breed in North America. All oystercatchers are large, unusual-looking shorebirds with strong white or black-and-white markings. Their habitat includes both seacoasts and, less commonly, some inland waterways. They consume crustaceans and shellfish and have powerful, bright-colored bladelike bills (which appear triangular in cross section) that they use to open the shells of bivalves or to consume crabs and sandworms.
The large, stocky, brightly marked American oystercatcher is a conspicuous shorebird in the Chesapeake Bay region, but the species was once hunted almost to the point of extinction along the East Coast. Today, under protection, its numbers are restored and oystercatchers can be found in large groups as far north as Massachusetts, a region from which they once were nearly eradicated. Oystercatchers are a common sight along the mid-Atlantic coast and Eastern Shore, feeding on sandy or pebble beaches, oyster bars, at the edges of salt marshes or mudflats, usually in small groups or in pairs. Males and females of this species are similar, and adults in the mid-Atlantic region reach a length of 19 inches. The oystercatcher is dark brown above, with white underparts, and a black head, tail and neck. Its powerful scarlet bill is long, straight and broad, and its legs and feet are a pinkish color. In flight their extended wings reveal a broad white wing stripe. The oystercatcher’s call also is conspicuous: they can utter a shrill ‘kleeep!’ call or plover-like ‘clee-ar’.
Nesting oystercatchers lay clutches of between two and four sandy-colored eggs slightly marked with brown, in shallow sandy hollows that are lined with beach detritus and crushed shell. They generally breed along both the east and west coasts of the United States, from Baja, California in the west and southern Massachusetts and points south in the east. Oystercatchers winter over sometimes in Maryland and south to North Carolina. To feed, oystercatchers insert their flat, strong bills into bivalves such as mussels, and in the process sever the adductor muscles that hold the shells closed. They then grasp and remove the meat and consume it. They are also known to hammer shells until they break apart, exposing the animals within. Oystercatchers are voracious shellfish consumers, and will eat clams, crabs, barnacles and other mollusks, including snails. Oystercatchers breed in spring along the Bay’s shorelines, but will also nest along rockier coasts in New England—as far north as Maine and Labrador—and migrate, sometimes in large flocks, as far south as the Caribbean in winter.
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