#1384 · 🐦 birds
American Oystercatcher
🇳🇱 Amerikaanse Bonte Scholekster ·Haematopus palliatus
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Carlos Moura · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Dick Daniels · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. © zimmwisdom · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © terence zahner · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Ariel Hernandez · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Alex Shure · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © José Arce Smith · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © terence zahner · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © terence zahner · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Greg Lasley · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The American oystercatcher ( Haematopus palliatus ), occasionally called the American pied oystercatcher , is a member of family Haematopodidae. Originally called the "sea pie", it was renamed in 1731 when naturalist Mark Catesby observed the bird eating oysters. The current population of American oystercatchers is estimated to be 43,000. There are estimated to be 1,500 breeding pairs along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the US. The bird is marked by its black and white body and a...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 26,841 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1820 (206 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- American Oystercatcher
- Nederlands
- Amerikaanse Bonte Scholekster
- scientific name
- Haematopus palliatus
- class
- Aves
- order
- Charadriiformes
- family
- Haematopodidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 26,841
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1820 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Haematopodidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 4840, Wikidata Q692644, GBIF 2480273, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.