American Oystercatcher
Haematopus palliatus
American Oystercatcher · Arverne Preserve · 20 June 2026
An American Oystercatcher on the beach at Arverne, a bird of sandy coasts from New England to Argentina that has expanded back onto New York City beaches over recent decades and now breeds on quiet stretches of Rockaway shoreline like this one.
The improbably long red-orange bill is a chisel, not a probe, built for prying open bivalves and hammering through the shells of oysters, clams and mussels rather than picking through mud like most shorebirds. Each bird learns one technique from its parents, stabbing or hammering, and keeps it for life.
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