American Oystercatchers Nesting
It’s time to exchange! The male American Oystercatcher, named Archie, approaches his mate, AE, to take on the duties of sitting on their newly laid eggs.
On a warm morning last April, my brother and I strode along the shores of Ft DeSoto park looking for some birds to photograph. After a short while, we came across a volunteer with the local Audubon Society monitoring a roped off area. The volunteer would explain to us that two American Oyster catchers, AE and Archie, were tending to their newly laid eggs.
Being new to birding, I wasn’t aware of how fascinating of a spectacle we had happened upon, but there was already another photographer set up nearby taking photos and waiting. What they were waiting for, I wasn’t quite sure of. But then, after a few minutes, it began.
The volunteer told us that it was about time for them to exchange. This is a behavior they do at a somewhat regular interval, and it involves trading baby duties. The male began to wander over to the female and poke around until she stood up and left the nest.
As she did so, the male plopped himself down on the eggs and did what I assume all males do when tasked with watching the kids - he grabbed a shell and began to fidget with it, flipping it around in his beak. I am guessing this was an action to stave off boredom.
Unfortunately, this story has a sad ending.
As I was preparing these images and short story for my website, I reached out to my brother for some info. He told me about a recent article in the Tampa Bay Times about these exact Oystercatchers. Shortly after we saw them something called a ‘rogue wave’ came and engulfed the shoreline, destroying their nest and eggs. After this event, the two left the area.
Local park representatives are hopeful they will return and try nesting there again.
