Adults: Head, neck, throat, breast, black. Rest of upperparts, dark brown. Belly, rump, white. Eyering, red. Eye, yellow. Tail, base white. Narrow, short, white wingbar visible in flight. Underwing primaries, black. Secondaries, outer greater coverts, white with black tips. Bill, red with a yellowish tip. Legs, pink.
Immatures: Like adult but black parts have brownish edges. Eye, dark. Bill, red with a dark tip. Legs are paler.
Other Names (World)
American Oystercatcher, American Pied Oystercatcher
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Canada (B), Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (B), Uruguay (B), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (B) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (B) (NB).
Vagrant to Jamaica.
Population
Estimated population is 37,000 - 110,000 (2010).
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) [XC384216]
by Robert Dobbs from Delta del Estero Real, Nicaragua (flight call)
American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) [XC51632]
by Jo\u00e3o Gava from Albufera Mar Chiquita, Buenos Aires, Argentina (song)
Subspecies
Sometimes considered conspecific with Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus).
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
palliatus Temminck, 1820 - Coasts of North and South America, from Gulf of California to central Chile, and from Massachusetts to south-central Argentina, including West Indies.
galapagensis Ridgway, 1886 - Galapagos Is.
Similar Species
Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
Adult with adult. Back is black without any brown. Eye is red. Bill is bright red. Legs are pinkish-red. In flight white on upper tail extends onto rump and white wing bars extend into primaries although becoming duller.
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet