This week for Flora and Fauna Friday, it’s our shellfish shucking cinnabar-snouted shorebird, the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus).
The American Oystercatcher is common all along the southeastern seaboard and is a year-round resident of Edisto Island. They’re found on beaches, sand bars, lagoons, and the banks of tidal creeks. Out of all our shorebirds, it’s one of the largest and definitely the most recognizable. Untanned pale-pink legs, a snow-white belly, a chocolate-brown back, a black hood, a yolk-yellow eye with orange eyeliner, and a long heavy bill tipped with gold and dyed so dark with orange as too look scarlet. There’s just nothing else like them! American Oystercatchers, unsurprisingly, eat oysters. They also eat clams and mussels here in the Lowcountry, as well other mollusks and crustaceans they chance upon. Oystercatchers employ a unique technique for feeding on hard-shelled bivalves. As they patrol an oyster reef, they look for oysters with their shells open a smidge. Using a quick surgical strike of their oyster knife bill, they jab into the shell, slice the muscle that holds the shell closed, and wedge the halves apart. They’re then able to slurp up their catch at their leisure.
American Oystercatchers depend on oyster reefs for food and they rely on barrier islands for nesting habitat. They nest on the ground in dune ecosystems or on sand banks, where predators are scarce. This makes them highly sensitive to human disturbance during their nesting period, which in South Carolina starts in April and continues through July. Which means they’re nesting during peak season for beachgoers. This puts Oystercatchers greatly at risk of decline as coastal development increases and beach uses intensify. Many imperiled beach-nesting birds have a similar life history and face the same threats. This fact underlines the importance of respecting SCDNR conservation regulations when visiting Lowcountry beaches, which are in place to protect shorebirds. It also highlights the critical importance of coastal sanctuaries, including Crab Bank, Bird Key, Deveaux Bank, and Otter and Pine Islands, to Lowcountry shorebird and seabird conservation efforts.
