Large and chunky shorebird with a bright red bill and yellow eye.
Chunky shorebird. Juveniles are duller than adults with a dark-tipped bill.
Males and females incubate eggs laid in a small scrape on the ground.
In flight, note white wing and tail stripe. Flying birds often give piercing calls.
Conspicuous shorebird with a bright red bill and yellow eye.
Walks or runs along beaches and rocky shorelines.
Courting birds walk side by side giving single piping notes with their outstretched necks bobbing up and down.
Nests on the ground on sand dunes, marsh islands, or oyster shell mounds.
Found along beaches, rocky shorelines, and mudflats.
A large, thickset shorebird with a long, stout bill, a large head, robust neck, and long, thick legs.
Larger than a Willet, smaller than a Herring Gull.
crow-sizedCompared with the Atlantic form (palliatus) the northernmost Pacific subspecies (frazari, rare in California) is darker above, lacks white in the inner primaries, and often shows dark mottling below. All of these plumage features could be a result of occasional hybridization with Black Oystercatcher.
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