American Oystercatcher

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Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the American Oystercatcher

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the American Oystercatcher

The map shades 41 countries with regular records, and 2 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in French Guiana, Dominica.

About the American Oystercatcher

The American oystercatcher, 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 claimed that he had observed the bird eating oysters. The current population of American oystercatchers is estimated to be 50,000 – 99,999 mature individuals. There are estimated to be 1,500 breeding pairs along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the US. The bird is marked by its black and white body and a long, thick orange beak.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Black OystercatcherHaematopus bachmaniThe black oystercatcher is a large shorebird, with a black head, neck and breast and dark brown body, a long (9 cm (3.5 in)) bright red/orange bill and pink legs. Pied OystercatcherHaematopus longirostrisThe name "oystercatcher" is something of a misnomer for this species, because they seldom eat oysters, which are found mainly on rocky coastlines. Variable OystercatcherHaematopus unicolor"Variable" refers to the frontal plumage, which ranges from pied through mottled to all black.

Side by side: American Oystercatcher vs Eurasian Oystercatcher · American Oystercatcher vs Black Oystercatcher · American Oystercatcher vs Pied Oystercatcher · American Oystercatcher vs Variable Oystercatcher