Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division

04/22/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/22/2025 05:05

Operation Oystercatcher

With the countdown to migration ticking, a DNR-led crew tried one last time in late March to capture American oystercatchers on a shell rake near Cumberland Island.

And this time, it worked.

As DNR Program Manager Tim Keyes radioed the command "Fire, fire, fire" the blast of a cannon-powered net sent a 40-by-25-foot cloud of brown mesh arcing over about 50 oystercatchers on the thin island. The big black-and-white birds erupted as well, but the net settled on 32.

This video clip shows a cannon net being used to trap American oystercatchers last month. (DNR)

Keyes was pleased. Most of the oystercatchers were 2- to 3-year-olds and only three had been banded. Now that all sport color-coded leg bands for identification, "We're interested to see where they get resighted," he said.

The goal of trapping, banding and following oystercatchers is to refine population estimates and better understand which parts of their life cycle conservation initiatives should focus on.

The crow-sized birds with golden eyes and long bills the color of a tropical sunset were in decline in the early 2000s. However, rangewide efforts coordinated by the American Oystercatcher Working Group to study and restore the species have resulted in a stable or possibly increasing population.

A key next step, Keyes said, is combining the extensive banding and nesting data in an integrated population model that can more clearly estimate populations, trends and demographics to guide future work.

That database now includes details - and more to come - from the oystercatchers caught, recorded and released near Cumberland just in time for spring migration.

DNR's Blake Marin, left, and Tim Keyes band a young oystercatcher. (Max Nootbaar/DNR)

AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS/AT A GLANCE

  • Found on barrier islands, shell rakes and oyster beds on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, with a western population from Baja, California, to Chile.
  • Prey almost entirely on shellfish, although they also eat crabs, worms and other marine animals.
  • Listed as a species of greatest conservation need in Georgia's 2015 and draft 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan.
  • In Georgia, a mix of oystercatchers breed, migrate through and live year-round. About 120 pairs of nesting birds fledged 35 chicks here last summer, six from shell rakes that had been raised about 6 feet above sea level using timbers, shell and mesh. Those six fledglings in 2024 were more than the state's entire coast produced in 2023.
  • The Georgia trapping crew included DNR and White Oak Conservation staff.

Top: American oystercatchers in flight (Tim Keyes/DNR)

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