American Oystercatcher Camera Project Captures Predators, Disturbance

This very curious American Oystercatcher chick was born on Jones Beach in the summer of 2024, the first to hatch at the site in four years!

It was an incredible coincidence that we caught it all on camera. Audubon has been monitoring American Oystercatchers on Long Island since 2014 and over the years we have noticed that nests are being built, chicks are not hatching. 

This is confusing because other beach-nesting birds – like Piping Plovers – are benefitting from Audubon and our partners’ stewardship and monitoring efforts. We go out early in the season to put string fencing around oystercatcher, plover, and tern nesting sites, and put exclosures around Piping Plover nests (oystercatchers are too big to get in and out). Audubon also hosts outreach days to educate beachgoers about protecting birds.

We had to figure out what was happening to the American Oystercatchers and were thrilled to receive funding to launch the “American Oystercatcher Camera Project.”

During the 2024 season, we piloted two cameras at Jones Beach. Incredibly, four chicks fledged from three nests that summer! 

While we were more than happy to record a success, we needed more data to understand what was impacting the nests that failed.

We secured funding for the 2025 season to put cameras on 24 nests across three sites: Jones Beach, Tobay Beach (Oyster Bay), and Lido Beach and Point Lookout (Town of Hempstead). We also brought on a dedicated staff person who would assess the tens of thousands of triggered and time-lapse images the cameras would produce. 

We deployed all cameras between April and July to reduce disturbance on late-season nests. Working with our partners, we identified pairs to watch and varied camera placement across older and newer nesting pairs. 

Nine nests hatched, and 15 failed. The top predators identified on camera were cats, red foxes, and racoons. Disturbance sometimes took strange forms – like an owl that landed near a nest but just wanted a quiet place to eat. We also noted human disturbance like beachgoers tossing trash in the nesting site.

A lot went well in 2025: we improved our camera deployment techniques, and none of our cameras were damaged or stolen. The birds were undisturbed by the cameras, except for a few very interested chicks! 

There are also issues to address: Fog and other weather impacted our cameras, and we noticed that smaller predators like ghost crabs were frequently missed. 

The American Oystercatcher Camera Project will be expanding this coming season to additional beaches and nesting sites! We will also be fitting a small number of oystercatchers with GPS transmitters so we have both foraging and nesting data.

As we collect more conclusive evidence, we look forward to working with the managers of each beach nesting site to address the issues. We all share the same goal to protect these birds and help their populations grow.

This work is funded by the Robert F. Schumann Foundation and The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation