Animalia Life
Haematopus palliatus
TAXONOMY
Haematopus palliatus Temminck, 1820, Venezuela. Two subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: American pied oystercatcher; French: Huоtrier
d’Amйrique; German: Braunmantel-austernfischer; Spanish:
Ostrero pio Americano.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
15.75–17.32 in (40–44 cm); male averages 1.25 lb (567 g), female
1.41 lb (638 g). Black head, neck, upper breast, tail, flight
feathers; white belly and lower breast; orange-red bill and eye
ring; yellow eye. Only pied oystercatcher with brownish dorsal
plumage. Juveniles have dark eyes, inconspicuous eye ring, dark
tip on bill, and the upperparts are fringed with buff.
DISTRIBUTION
Coastal Americas from Gulf of California to Chile, southern
Argentina to Massachusetts, West Indies. H. p. galapagensis occurs
only in Galapagos Islands.
HABITAT
Sandy, shell, and pebble beaches, salt marshes, rocky shores.
BEHAVIOR
Territorial, sometimes moves to mudflats in winter.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Takes snails, oysters, crabs, mussels, and clams using a variety
of techniques. On rocky shores in Panama feeds almost entirely
on mollusks.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds only at the coast. Known to hybridize with blackish
oystercatchers in South America and American black oystercatchers
in western Mexico and Gulf of California (the latter
resulting in disputed race H. p. frazari). Chick plumage consists
of drab upperparts, white underparts, and dark stripes on sides
and back. Breeding occurs during a two-month breeding season
over range, ranging from February to October.
CONSERVATION STATUS
With a total population of about 5,000 birds, generally not
considered globally threatened, but sometimes considered Near
Threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.