The American Oystercatchers had started to return to the northeast coast sometime around mid-March from their wintering grounds in the southern states somewhere between South Carolina and Florida. I wandered the beach from Jacob Riis and Fort Tilden in Queens, NY on April 4th and enjoyed the company and curiosity of a number of pairs and a couple of single oystercatchers.
It is not possible to distinguish males and females by appearance as they look alike. They are also hard to confuse with a different shorebird species with the bright red to orange bill and yellow eyes rimmed with red on that black head with a brown and white body.
