Black Oystercatchers, Monterey Bay Shoreline

Black Oystercatchers are one of the more unusual year-round inhabitants on the Monterey Bay Shore. They can be found almost every day, usually in pairs and announce their comings and goings with a loud high-pitched scream. Once settled on the rocks, we watch them feeding in the exposed areas dislodging small shellfish and other creatures hidden in the moist growth on the rocks. When not feeding, they are often found on the sunny side of shoreline rocks enjoying the afternoon sun. Note in the first shot below that one of the Oystercatchers is "hunkered-down" resting on the sunny side of this rock.

It is always a welcome sight to find them in their habitat and often on one of their favorite warm rocks. We wonder if we see the same ones day after day. It's like meeting old friends - the day doesn't seem complete until we find them.

While having observed them along the Monterey and Pacific Grove shore for the last five years, it was a surprise to read that as recently as 2002 they were on the Audubon "Watch List". By 2007, they had apparently made enough of a come-back and were no longer on the Watch List. There is very good information on the Audubon site describing their Distribution & Population Trends, Ecology, Threats, and Conservation efforts here.

The BirdWeb site also has fine information about them in the Washington State coastal area here. Black Oystercatchers are found all along the Pacific coast from the Aleutian Islands to Baja California.

One of this pair was on a nearby rock allowing a better close-up of their coloration and showing the distinctive red bill and pink feet. We observe them most often poking into this dark colored growth on the rocks but seldom do we see them eating anything large enough to be visible even with binoculars or the telephoto lens. The informative web sites describe their diet including small shell fish but we have never observed them eating anything but the food found in this typical growth.

These shots were taken at 500mm with a Nikon D90 - hand held at 1/1000.