Coastal Resource Information System

Black Oystercatcher

The Black Oystercatcher nests and occurs near shorelines year round in coastal British Columbia. Black Oystercatchers are highly vulnerable to oil that washes ashore (King and Sanger 1979). Mortality of Black Oystercatchers can be very high through the fouling of plumage and ingestion of contaminated prey.

These birds are highly vulnerable to disturbance by cleanup operations during the egg laying season of May through June particularly if Glaucous-winged Gull colonies are nearby. Disturbance would cause incubating birds to leave their eggs exposed to predation by Gulls and overheating from the sun. Black Oystercatchers are not vulnerable to oil cleanup during the non-breeding season of September through March because they can easily move to other locations.

Black Oystercatchers are described below in and exerpt from The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 2, Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers by R. Wayne Campbell, Neil K. Dawe, Ian McTaggart-Cowan, John M. Cooper, Gary W. Kaiser and Michael C.E. McNall.

Black Oystercatchers are most frequently seen on rocky islets, reefs and spits, but also frequents lagoons, gravel and mudflats, rocky beaches, sandbars and inlets. It visits estuaries, seaside golf courses and parks infrequently and seems to avoid beaches at times of heavy surf. All nesting sites are located on offshore islands. The center of abundance for breeding Black Oystercatchers is Queen Charlotte Islands (which account for 38%) and the West Coast of Vancouver Island (which accounts for 30%). (Photo credit: Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Province of British Columbia).