[obol] Re: Do Oystercatchers carry their young?

[Cindy Ashy]

I never did find the chicks for the 2 pairs of oystercatchers I watched at
Yaquina Head. However, I found this info in "Oregon Birds" by Roger Burrows and
Jeff Gilligan (under the nesting section):

"...pair incubates 1-3 dark-marked eggs for 26-28 days; pair tends the young
until fledging at 38-40 days and then moves them to remote feeding sites for
winter."

Jeff...could you expound on this...HOW do they move them?

By the way, this book is great for interesting anecdotal information on birds
found in Oregon.

I wonder if eggs could be carefully tucked under the wings and transported by
any avian species?

I just checked "Birds of Oregon." Interesting that they can build multiple
nests and then the female chooses which one to use...I think we may have seen a
gull pair do that this year at Yaquina Head. Says chicks are brooded for 1-2
days continuously and then intermittently until 13-20 years old...one parent
stands guard when not brooding while the other forages which is the behavior I
observed at Yaquina Head...says the chick can walk and swim at 3 days and picks
at food at 5 days but still gets more than 50% of their food biomass from the
parents at 50 days old...and as early as 7 days can accompany the parent
foraging...I looked for this and never saw it. Chicks are capable of flight at
38-40 days....so I guess they can fly to a new site. This books says chicks are
ejected from territory in Jan-March when courtship intensifies.

Cindy Ashy

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