Nesting records of American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) and Blackish Oystercatcher (Haematopus ater) in Caicura Islands, Chile

Abstract

The American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) and the Blackish Oystercatcher (H. ater) are distributed throughout Chile. At present, there is no published information on the reproductive biology of these two oystercatcher species for the Los Lagos Region, southern Chile. Here we provide the first nesting records of the American Oystercatcher and the Blackish Oystercatcher in the Caicura islands, Seno de Reloncaví, southern Chile. We obtained information on the phenology, number of nests, eggs and chicks during three consecutive reproductive seasons (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16). In general, the laying of eggs of both species began in November, with chicks being observed in December and fledglings during January.