Salish Sea
June 2017
That’s a Black Oystercatcher (www.allaboutbirds.org/...), a special shorebird in the Pacific Northwest. It is a resident, for one thing, which means it can find enough food year round here unlike most shorebirds that must migrate to keep up with seasonal sources over long distances. Even so, Black Oystercatchers are very limited in where they can find that food: strictly marine intertidal zones where there is bedrock or beaches with boulders or cobbles. Oystercatchers have another characteristic I sometimes see on display. Follow me below the fold to see...
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On this occasion a single oystercatcher was taking a moment to have a bath in the shallow quiet waters of my local bay. Most of the time I see oystercatchers in ones or pairs, unlike typical shorebirds who travel in large flocks.
That other quality I mentioned (there are many beyond this!) is a willingness to confront other birds it meets on the shore. I’ve seen them drive away gulls twice their size. This time it was a Northwestern Crow (www.allaboutbirds.org/...). Crows frequent the beaches hunting for food. They eat a lot of clams, which they’ll dig up on their own. But they’re also always alert for a quicker meal if they can steal it from another bird. Oystercatchers are extremely industrious foragers. In the Salish Sea they don’t eat oysters; their primary food is limpets which they pry off bedrock. But oystercatchers around here also eat a lot of clams, especially the Purple Varnish clam (wdfw.wa.gov/...), which is one reason I like these introduced mollusks. PVCs have settled into cobbly beaches along the West Coast over the past few decades and appear not to have displaced other clams. They are an abundant and reliable food source in this narrow ecosystem.
This crow was lurking, watching in case the oystercatcher found a PV clam in these cobbles, prime habitat for them.
Oystercatchers are as big as crows both in size and attitude. They don’t back down. Sometimes they can be caught unawares, but no way an oystercatcher will give way face to face. Crows are very persistant though.
Eventually this crow gave up and left the oystercatcher alone.
Oystercatcher continued its bath, shaking its wings, which involves a big hop.
Quick beach bucket for our Friday.
What’s up in your natural neighborhood?
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