American Oystercatcher

The American Oystercatcher (occasionally called the American pied Oystercatcher) feed mostly on mussels, clams, oysters; also marine worms, sand crabs, limpets, sea urchins, jellyfish, and other small creatures of the intertidal zone. Often forages by walking in shallow water, searching for food by sight. The birds have two methods of opening shell fish. The first method is to, when finding a mussel with its shell slightly open, the oystercatcher quickly jabs its bill into the opening, cutting the muscles and then cleaning out the contents. In the second method, the bird simply hammers on the shell until it breaks open.

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