Identification - It is the size of a heavily built crow and is unmistakable with its all-black plumage, orange-red bill, and pink legs and feet. Sexes are similar in appearance.
Morsels - The oystercatcher's long bill is flattened vertically with a chisel-like tip so it can quickly enter an open mollusk shell, and cut the bivalve's adductor muscle, the muscle that holds the shells closed. Then it feeds on the clam or mussel meat inside. It also uses its bill to "chisel" limpets, conical-shaped marine snails, off the rocks or to probe the marine mud for worms. This oystercatcher seldom eats oysters.