Date: 5/3/25 10:08 pm From: Vivek Tiwari via groups.io <spiderhunters...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Mating Black Oystercatchers, Shoreline Lake
Today 5/3/25 at 5PM. I made another attempt for the continuing county rarity. (Thanks to everyone who responded to my earlier query about this bird). But today there were 2 BLACK OYSTERCATCHERs, easily seen from the maintenance road, on the left (north/west) end of the island on Shoreline Lake, near the "Sensitive Habitat" sign. At one point as the two birds faced each other, one of the birds started calling loudly and it felt like a display. I quickly decided to try and digiscope them and luckily I managed to get the phone camera and scope aligned just in time to get a shot of the birds copulating! One of the birds briefly mounted the other in apparent copulation. I waited 40 minutes but they did not repeat this. More than once they and the ~35 BLACK SKIMMERs, BLACK-NECKED STILTs, and AMERiCAN AVOCETS would flush, fly around the island and then settle back in the same location. Digiscoped pics at https://ebird.org/checklist/S232781151
Do not disclose information that identifies the location of nesting birds of any species, to minimize stress on the nesting birds and the risk of vandalism or abuse.
