Blackish Oystercatcher
A species of Oystercatchers Scientific name : Haematopus ater Genus : Oystercatchers
Blackish Oystercatcher, A species of Oystercatchers
Botanical name: Haematopus ater
Genus: Oystercatchers
Content
Description General Info
Photo By Alastair Rae , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original 
Description
The plumage of the blackish oystercatcher is slaty-black with wings and back being rather dark brown. The long bill is blood-red and the legs are white. The sexes are similar in appearance. The blackish oystercatcher is easily overlooked on a rocky shore. Its dark colour blends in with the colour of the rocks on which it walks as it forages, and it does not draw attention to itself. Its presence, however, can easily be detected by its loud and distinctive warning calls. The song of the blackish oystercatcher, when given in duet, consists of an excited chatter of piping whistles. Calls include notes that sound like "pip" and "peeeeyeeee". 
Size
46 cm
Feeding Habits
Blackish Oystercatcher predominantly consume mollusks like mussels and limpets, along with chitons, crustaceans, and some fish. They exhibit foraging behaviors such as hammering and prising on rocky shores, and their diet shifts to mainly mussels in winter on mudflats. Unique dietary items include endangered northern abalone. Blackish Oystercatcher's feeding is adapted to intertidal zones.
Habitat
Blackish Oystercatcher proliferates along coastal environments, particularly favoring rocky shorelines and intertidal zones that comprise rockpools and pebbly beaches. This bird species exhibits a preference for gradually sloping shores rather than steep rocky coasts. During breeding, blackish Oystercatcher is often found on pebble and shell beaches but shifts to interact with shingle shores, rocky outcrops, and mudflats outside the breeding season. Such habitats are favored across broad geographical regions encompassing parts of the South American coastline.
Dite type
Aquatic invertebrate eater
General Info
Distribution Area
The blackish oystercatcher is native to the coasts of Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and Peru, and it is a vagrant to Uruguay. The natural habitats of the blackish oystercatcher are rocky shores. It feeds in the intertidal zone on rocky shorelines, in rockpools and on pebble beaches. Rarely, it can be found on sandy beaches hunting for mole crabs.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Shorebirds Family
Oystercatchers Genus
Oystercatchers Species
Blackish Oystercatcher 
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