This is one of the first pictures I took, and it’s always been one of my favorites. It’s an American Oystercatcher, but I was a long way from America when I took this shot. I was in the Galapagos Islands. That helps explain why this bird with its catch was fairly oblivious to my presence. I shot this with a 200 mm lens and couldn’t have been more than 20 yards away from the bird. I honestly am not sure what that is in his or her bill.
If you’re near the water, you’re likely to see an oystercatcher. They live on the Atlantic coast from New England to northern Florida. Oystercatchers also live on Florida’s Gulf coast, and as for south as Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.You’ll also find them on the Pacific coast — in California, Mexico, Central America, Chile and Peru.
During the breeding season, these birds are found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and from Massachusetts south to Argentina and Chile. In winter, they are found in flocks along the coast from central New Jersey to the Gulf of Mexico.
It has a a nearly identical cousin called the Eurasian Oystercatcher. I saw them on the west coast of Scotland, while playing the Machrihanish Golf Course. The Oystercatcher is part of the club’s logo.