General

Black Oystercatcher: Large stocky brown-black shorebird with bright orange bill and glaring yellow eyes with contrasting orange eyering. Stout legs are dull yellow. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has brown eyes and darker bill.

Range and Habitat

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

Breeding and Nesting

Black Oystercatcher: Nests among rocks or grasses above high tide mark on inaccessible cliffs or islands. Nest is a simple scrape on the ground. Lays one to four buff to olive eggs marked brown and black. Both sexes incubate for 24 to 29 days. Chicks remain near the nest for several weeks, then gradually venture closer to waves and food sources.

Foraging and Feeding

Black Oystercatcher: Moves slowly and methodically among wave-splashed rocks along the ocean, stabbing limpets and mussels open or prying them off rocks. May eat other shellfish including whelks, urchins, and crabs.

Vocalization

Black Oystercatcher: Very loud piercing whistles that can be heard at great distance over crashing waves.