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We're crouching on a rocky shoreline on the Pacific Coast – hearing the piping call of the Black Oystercatcher, a stocky black bird with bright red eyes and a stout, orange-red bill, perfectly suited for jabbing limpets and mussels.
A strong ebb tide is flowing, creating whirlpools and tugging at the kelp. On nearby rocks, harbor seals, looking like huge taut sausages, have hauled out to rest. If we're lucky today, we'll hear some snorting.
The oystercatcher is completely dependent on this marine shoreline for nesting and food, even in winter, when waves hit these rocks with awesome force. Yet what seems like an inhospitable environment to us offers some advantages to the oystercatcher.
For one, wave-splashed mussels, the bird's chief food, are often found ajar, making them easier to attack and eat. Additionally, when the monogamous Black Oystercatcher nests on ledges just off shore, its eggs and young suffer far less predation by mammals. Now that's something to celebrate!
P.S. Contrary to their name, oystercatchers rarely eat oysters.
The bird calls you hear on BirdNote come from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. To hear this show again, visit the website, BirdNote.org.
Call of the Black Oystercatcher [2918] provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by A.A. Allen. Waves recorded by J.R. Storm
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2014 Tune In to Nature.org November 2014 Narrator: Michael Stein