They Came
“Almost no birds,” I mused with the extreme low tide laid out before me. A gull here and there. There
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Haematopus bachmani
Specialist
The minus 1.0 tide exposed acres of mudflats, and this Black Oystercatcher flew in and landed in the middle of
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Also Mussels
There aren’t a lot of oysters in the waters around the park — that’s another story — so the Black
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Sam’s Recent Park Pix
Photographer Sam Zuckerman, who last published in these pages in December 2020 with a photo of the rare Loggerhead Shrike,
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Rick Lewis’ Chavez Park
Wildlife photographer Rick Lewis’ work has graced the cover of magazines. His images excel in sharpness and clarity. He has
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Ants on Bird
I was watching this solo Black Oystercatcher on a rock off the east side of the seasonal Burrowing Owl sanctuary.
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Haematopus X
Watching the Black Oystercatchers at work, I always admire their industry and their intelligence in using their beak. This hard
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Versatile Beak
This Black Oystercatcher has an enviable beak. It’s hard and sharp to cut through the muscle that lets shellfish keep
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Mussel Splitters
Oysters can’t run, so why are these birds named “oystercatchers”? Here they’re at work demonstrating their technique for opening mussels.
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Why do they dip?
This Black Oystercatcher showed the same body dipping habit that the Spotted Sandpiper is famous for. The Willet does the
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Mussels and Clams
What does an Oystercatcher do in the absence of oysters? Why, mussels and clams will do just fine, thank you.
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Sound of the Oystercatcher
This time I heard them before I saw them. It was low tide in the morning. I stepped slowly toward
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Summer Steadies
The Red-winged Blackbirds, their breeding done, departed about a week after Summer Solstice. They usually leave earlier, but then they
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Oystercatchers and Poppies: a Flashback
My intent was to photograph the California Poppies. But when I got closer I saw a pair of Black Oystercatchers
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Black Oystercatcher Getting Breakfast
I’d wondered what Black Oystercatchers actually eat. They’re stuck with a weird name. You don’t “catch” oysters, they can’t run.
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North Basin: The Video
The North Basin is the body of water between Cesar Chavez Park and the Berkeley mainland. When I first started
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Not a Mudpecker
This Black Oystercatcher posed on a rock and ignored the Least Sandpipers busily pecking into the mud beneath it. But
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The Usual Feathered Suspects
The big news in the park this past week was the rain. Soon those brown hills will be green. In
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South End Birds
The waterbird action late Tuesday afternoon lay on the south side of the North Basin, along the Virginia Street extension.
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The Bird-y North Basin
For sweeping scenic views, the west side of the park is the place to be. But for bird life, the
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Sunday Walk
Clouds dark as a herd of buffalos rumbled across the sky today. Looking up from my observations in the Meadow,
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Black Oystercatchers Meet and Greet
Black Oystercatchers are not a rare sight in the North Basin. Still, seeing and hearing five of them get together
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Low Tide is Mealtime
Saw a pair of Black Oystercatchers this morning, in the shallow low tide waters of the North Basin at the
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Mud: a Feast for Birds
Low tide early this afternoon again exposed the mud bank on the east side of the park, and this time
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