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Haematopus palliatus

Temminck, 1820

American Oystercatcher

G5Secure Found in 2 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). © Michael Stubblefield; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library.
© Michael Stubblefield; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). © Dorian Anderson; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library.
© Dorian Anderson; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). © Vincent Iadevaia; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library.
© Vincent Iadevaia; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). © Mark Sak; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library.
© Mark Sak; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). © Ryan Sanderson; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library.
© Ryan Sanderson; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). © Beau Cotter; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library.
© Beau Cotter; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Public Domain (U.S. Government Work), via ECOS.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, https://www.usa.gov/government-works
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102614
Element CodeABNNC01010
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderCharadriiformes
FamilyHaematopodidae
GenusHaematopus
Other Common Names
American oystercatcher (EN) Huîtrier d'Amérique (FR) Ostrero Americano, Pilpilén (ES) Ostrero Americano, Pilpilén, Caracolero (ES) Pirupiru (PT)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Considered conspecific with H. bachmani and H. ostralegus by some authors (AOU 1983). The three taxa constitute a superspecies (AOU 1998). Jehl (1984) concluded that palliatus and bachmani are distinct species; see DeBenedictis (1990) for contrary view.
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-04-08
Change Date1996-11-25
Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences81 to >300
Rank Reasons
Secure due primarily to extensive range; recent range expansion has occurred in some areas.
Range Extent Comments
BREEDS: locally along Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts south to Yucatan Peninsula and West Indies, along Pacific coast from central Baja California and Gulf of California to Guerrero, along coast of Costa Rica, and from Bay of Panama south to central Chile, and along Caribbean-Atlantic coast of South America to south-central Argentina. NORTHERN WINTER: north to North Carolina and Baja California, south to southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, generally in breeding range in West Indies and coastal South America (AOU 1983).
Ecology & Habitat

Description

A large shorebird with a large, straight, laterally compressed red-orange bill (orange bill color not as extensive in juvenile) and moderately long neck and legs; head, neck, and back are black-dark brown; wings are dark with a broad white stripe; tail is dark with a large white patch at the base; dark upperparts are scaly-looking in juveniles; average length 47 cm (NGS 1983).

Diagnostic Characteristics

Oystercatchers differ from other shorebirds in having a large, straight, laterally compressed, orange bill with a rounded tip and both mandibles the same length. Differs from American black oystercatcher by having extensive white areas in plumage (vs. all-black plumage).

Habitat

Rocky and sandy seacoasts and islands (AOU 1983); river mouths and estuaries, especially where rocks exposed at low tide; mudflats, salt ponds (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Nests on the ground in open sites often on high parts of sandy beaches, also among rocks, on islands, on shingle beds, occasionally in saltmarsh (Harrison 1979, Harrison 1978, Shields and Parnell 1990). In marsh habitats, nested on sand in North Carolina, on sand, wrack, or grass in New York and New Jersey (Lauro and Burger 1989).

Ecology

Often in pairs. Nesting density was 0.66-1.00 pairs/ha in Virginia, 4.86-13.05 pairs/ha in New York (Lauro et al. 1992).

Reproduction

Clutch size is 2-4 (usually 2-3). Incubation lasts 27 days, by both sexes. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest in 1-2 days, probably first fly at about 5 weeks. Initially, young depend almost entirely on parents for food.

In Virginia, reproductive success was highly variable; large proportion of pairs failed to fledge young; losses due mainly to high tides and predation (Nol 1989).

Typically monogamous; care of both parents may be required for successful reproduction; communal breeding has been observed (Lauro et al. 1992).
Terrestrial Habitats
Sand/duneBare rock/talus/scree
Other Nations (2)
United StatesN5B,N5N
ProvinceRankNative
New YorkS3Yes
VirginiaS3B,S3NYes
MaineS1BYes
MarylandS3BYes
LouisianaS1Yes
MassachusettsS2Yes
AlabamaS1Yes
DelawareS1BYes
TexasS2Yes
North CarolinaS3B,S3NYes
ConnecticutS2BYes
Rhode IslandS2B,S2NYes
GeorgiaS2Yes
South CarolinaS3Yes
New JerseyS3B,S3NYes
MississippiS2Yes
FloridaS2Yes
CanadaNNRB
ProvinceRankNative
Nova ScotiaSNRBYes
Roadless Areas (2)
North Carolina (2)
AreaForestAcres
Pocosin AdditionCroatan National Forest286
Pocosin AdditionCroatan National Forest286
References (33)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. Bent, A.C. 1929. Life histories of North American shorebirds (Part II). U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 146. Washington, D.C.
  4. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  5. Castro, I. and A. Phillips. 1996. A guide to the birds of the Galapagos Islands. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
  6. DeBenedictis, P.A. 1990. Gleanings from the technical literature: Oystercatchers. Birding 22(6):294-296.
  7. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  8. Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
  9. Hayes, F. E., M. R. Paice, T. Blunden, P. W. Smith, S. A. Smith, G. White, and M. D. Frost. 2006. Status of the American Oystercatcher (<i>Haematopus palliatus</i>) in St. Vincent and The Grenadines. Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 19:48-51.
  10. Hernández Pérez, E. 2006. Primer registro sobre la reproducción del ostrero americano (<i>Haematopus palliatus</i>) en Cuba. Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 19:59.
  11. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  12. Jehl, J. R., Jr. 1973. Breeding biology and systematic relationships of the stilt sandpiper. Wilson Bulletin 85:115-147.
  13. Jehl, J. R., Jr. 1985. Hybridization and evolution of oystercatchers on the Pacific Coast of Baja California. Ornithological Monographs 36:484-504.
  14. Knopf, F.L. 1996. Mountain Plover (<i>Charadrius montanus</i>). In A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The Birds of North America, No. 211. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC. 16 pp.
  15. Knopf, F.L., and J.R. Rupert. 1996. Productivity and movements of mountain plovers breeding in Colorado. Wilson Bulletin 108:28-35.
  16. Lauro, B., and J. Burger. 1989. Nest-site selection of American oystercathers (HAEMATOPUS PALLIATUS) in salt marshes. Auk 106:185-192.
  17. Lauro, B., E. Nol, and M. Vicari. 1992. Nesting density and communal breeding in American oystercatchers. Condor 94:286-289.
  18. Morrison, R. I. G., R. E. Gill, Jr., B. A. Harrington, S. Skagen, G. W. Page, C. L. Gratto-Trevor, and S. M. Haig. 2001. Estimates of shorebird populations in North America. Occasional Paper Number 104, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON. 64 pages.
  19. National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
  20. Nol, E. 1989. Food supply and reproductive performance of the American oystercatcher in Virginia. Condor 91:429-435.
  21. Nol, E., and M. S. Blanken. 1999. Semipalmated Plover (<i>Charadrius semipalmatus</i>). No. 444 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, eds. The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 24pp.
  22. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  23. Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp.
  24. Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 511 pp.
  25. Ridgely, R. S. 2002. Distribution maps of South American birds. Unpublished.
  26. Ridgely, R. S. and J. A. Gwynne, Jr. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
  27. Rodríguez-Ferraro, A. and A. B. Azpiroz. 2004. Nidificación del caracolero (Haematopus palliatus) en la Península de Paraguaná, Venezuela. Ornitologia Neotropical 15:269-270.
  28. Rubega, M. A., D. Schamel, and D. M. Tracy. 2000. Red-necked Phalarope (<i>Phalaropus lobatus</i>). No. 538 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors, The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 28pp.
  29. Shields, M. A., and J. F. Parnell. 1990. Marsh nesting by American oystercatchers in North Carolina. J. Field Ornithol. 61:431-433.
  30. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  31. Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
  32. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  33. Zook, J. L. 2002. Distribution maps of the birds of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Unpublished.