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Oystercatchers
As shorebird that nest on undefendable beach , oyster catcher are eye - hitch , but also vulnerable , since human being , too , are drawn to stretches of gumption . research worker are working to better understand their migratory pattern using leg ring and , more latterly , satellite transmitter . This information will serve them well protect these birds .
Oystercatcher habitat
Oystercatcher home ground in Rich Inlet , N.C. , as seen from the air . Oystercatcher home ground stretch to the Second Earl of Guilford and south , along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America . Another variety of American oyster catcher inhabit on the Mexican Pacific coast . Other race live further south .
Tracking the birds
So far , researchers in North Carolina have outfitted five oyster catcher with haversack - like satellite transmitters in guild to better understand their migration patterns . Here , one of the five oystercatchers take in a transmitter . scientist are n’t the only 1 who can keep tabs on the oyster catcher ' change of location . Anyone can check on their locations using a single-valued function on Audubon North Carolina ’s website , Oystercatchertracking.org .
Snapshot sightings
So far , scientists have only snapshots of the oystercatchers ' migratory habitats based on sightings of birds with peg bands , visible in green here . The Bronx cheer show a variety of migration shape : Some make long trip of about 930 international nautical mile ( 1,500 kilometers ) in spring and fall , while some make much shorter trips or do n’t travel at all , say study researcher Ted Simons of North Carolina State University .
Oreo the oystercatcher
The hoot with the green leg tag seen here was named Oreo by a local 5th grade form . The other bird is her ( or his ) Ilex paraguariensis . Because male and female oystercatchers have monovular plumage , similar body sizes and carry their sexual practice harmonium internally , researchers have difficulty tell the males from female . Both sexes care for the bollock and chicks .
Laying eggs
Oystercatchers lie down clutches of three egg on open guts beach . This habit make them vulnerable to human recreation and coastal development . Here is the nest belong to CFX and his ( or her ) mate on the North Core Banks of Cape Lookout National Seashore .
Chick camouflage
Two chicks belonging to an oystercatcher diagnose Arnie and his ( or her ) partner . As the chicks get big , they see their own places to hide and trust on their plume to camouflage them , allot to Audubon’sOystercatchertracking.org .
Fending off predators
The skirt make likable meals for piranha , such as gulls and crabs . Here , Oreo take on a potential piranha , a ghostwriter crab . As of mid - June , Oreo and her ( or his ) mate were hard at work fertilise three chick .
Putting the “oyster” in “oystercatcher”
American oyster catcher eat up mussel , wampum and oyster , among other marine invertebrate . Above , oystercatchers with the food that gives them their name , huitre . The razzing insert their foresightful bill into barely unfold mollusc to nose the two half of the shield aside , according toOystercatchertracking.org .
Chick feeding
Oreo feeds her ( or his ) chick lilliputian simoleons call coquinas . Oystercatcher parents take their skirt to the water ’s edge where they might forage for coquinas , but , for the most part , the parents rely on larger quarry , such as huitre , to feed their biddy , according toOystercatchertracking.org .
Catching an oystercatcher
so as to trap an oyster catcher , researchers work the boo ' territorial behavior during the breeding time of year . They gear up out a decoy oyster catcher , like the one shown here , surrounded by nets made into what are known as noose carpeting . A territorial call play from the box beside the fake shuttlecock , summoning the occupier oystercatcher to maintain his or her territory , and so step into the noose carpet .
