The Natural History of Bodega Head

    Eurasian Oystercatcher ( Haematopus ostralegus ), or tjaldur in Icelandic, along the shoreline of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula   in Icelan...

    New oystercatcher chick with mom, 27 June 2025 [You can click on the photo for a larger version.  Note that the chick has a short, brown...

    Black Oystercatcher nest, 12 June 2025 (Photo taken  with a zoom lens from a distance and then cropped.)  

    Black Oystercatcher ( Haematopus bachmani ) with Sea Palms ( Postelsia palmaeformis ) in the background, 31 May 2025.  

    I didn't have much time to focus on bird photos during our Iceland trip, but here are a few incidental sightings.  Above, a White Wa...

    There were 20-30 foot swells at the coast today.  It's always hard to judge scale when looking at wave photos.  Can you find the two...

    On our way out to a field site recently we came across a Black Oystercatcher ( Haematopus bachmani ) nest.  We moved on so as not to dis...

    Black Oystercatcher ( Haematopus bachmani ) and California Mussels ( Mytilus californianus ).  Photographed at sunset on 17 January 2022...

    After field work in Mendocino County today (15 July 2021), we had a nice view of a couple of juvenile Black Oystercatchers ( Haematopus ...

    An adult Black Oystercatcher ( Haematopus bachmani ) bringing food to two young chicks. And now that you've seen the chicks...

I've been sitting outside tonight and just listening, so I haven't had much time to think about a post.  But here's a recent Bla...

  Hidden among stone, the granite-matching eggs of a Black Oystercatcher ( Haematopus bachmani ).  

We had to make a run down to the post office today, and since word had been passed along that an Emperor Goose ( Anser canagicus ) had been ...

  Black Oystercatcher ( Haematopus bachmani ), 7 August 2019  

  Recently I was checking on some Black Oystercatchers to see if they might be nesting this year.   Can you spot the small oysterca...

On our way to an intertidal field site this morning, we encountered several sea urchins that looked like this: Can you guess who was...

  Black Oystercatchers prying mussels off the rocks at sunset. May the Force be with you!

  Black Oystercatchers ( Haematopus bachmani ) taking shelter on the beach during the storm, 25 October 2016.

A few years ago, I posted a series of pictures documenting the development of 'Summersalt,' a juvenile Black Oystercatcher.  To revi...

  Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) , Bodega Head, 12 June 2015