Bonnie Tate
Female American Oystercatcher Yellow 25 in Winthrop, Massachusetts, July 4, 2023. All photographs by the author.
I spent a beautiful, sunny day on this Fourth of July 2023 photographing three pairs of adult American Oystercatchers and their five chicks among them on a pristine beach in Winthrop, Massachusetts. I noticed that one of the birds was sporting a bright yellow band on each upper leg with the number 25. This bird was the only adult that was banded and I submitted the number to the American Oystercatcher Working Group’s website when I got home. They quickly got back to me along with a link that tracked this particular American Oystercatcher since it was first banded. The record contained over 70 entries, including my own (American Oystercatcher Working Group 2013). Yellow 25, a female, had quite a history.
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