Black Oystercatcher

My goal with this blog is to showcase everyday birds in Vancouver. The Black Oystercatcher isn’t quite what I would call an everyday bird, but who can resist sharing a face like that? They camouflage well when their beaks are hidden, but their long, bright bills draw the eye and make for an unmistakable ID. Oystercatchers feed almost exclusively on molluscs, probing in the mud and among the rocks to catch their prey. They are found only on rocky shores of the Pacific coast of North America. Oystercatchers build their nests in scrapes just above high tide, lined with small pebbles they’ve collected.

I saw this one with a small gathering of her friends at Wreck Beach on November 29. In the summer at Wreck there’s altogether too much human biomass hanging around, but in the winter it’s a great place to see wildlife!

Bonus photo: the sound of my camera’s shutter was unnerving, I think, to one of the oystercatchers. I have my camera on rapid-capture mode and he kept looking at me like this when I was taking photos. It’s bad etiquette to disturb the birds, so shame on me.