July 17, 2020 -- For the past several years in a row, black oystercatchers, a year round avian resident of California's rocky, coastal tidelands have barely been able to raise their young. Warmer waters altered the food web and decreased food availablity so there was only just enough food for adult oystercatchers to get by and not enough to support chicks. This year, colder ocean conditions have brought good tidings to the poorly named oystercatchers, which don't eat oysters at all. Based on climatic conditions, it seems that this year is the birds' chance to make up for lost time and bring up their population numbers. However, oystercatchers are at risk of facing another childless year due to a different threat -- dusturbance from humans and their robot sidekicks drones.
Tim Bray, president of the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society, worries that as tourism picks up this summer, humas will disturb nesting black oystercatchers by venturing too close to the birds nests on the rocky ledges above the ocean, or by flying drones, which the oystercatchers perceive to be predators, overhead.