Alternative Name: Western Black Oystercatcher
- Haematopus bachmani
Identification
- All black wader
- Long bill is bright red
- Pink legs
- Eye has bright yellow iris with red eye-ring
- Northern birds may be slightly darker
Distribution
 |
Western Aleutian Islands, along Canadian, American, and Mexican Pacific coasts to central Baja California and Los Coronados Islands. |
| Legend • H. bachmani; year-round |
Taxonomy
A monotypic species.[4]
Habitat
Rocky shorelines.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes marine invertebrates, particularly mussels, limpets and chitons, also crabs and barnacles. It uses its strong bill to dislodge food and pry shells open.
Breeding
The nests are small bowls or depressions close to the shore filled with small pebbles and shell fragments. 2-3 eggs are laid and are incubated for around 26-28 days. The chicks are capable of leaving the nest after one day; they stay in the territory for about 40 days after fledging. The fledged juveniles 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.
References
- Sibley, DA. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0679451228
- Brinkley, ES. 2007. Field Guide to Birds of North America. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. ISBN 978-1402738746
- Andres, Brad A., and Gary A. Falxa. 1995. "Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani)." The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/155.
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black Oystercatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 6 October 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black_Oystercatcher
