Bird
American Oystercatcher
Haematopus palliatus
Lives in Virginia all year and nests here. Found in 19 of 133 counties and cities, across 5 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 19 of 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 5

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 19 of 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 5
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Virginia 5
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.


Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Other habitats in its models (19)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
Seasons in Virginia
- Year-round: nests here, in 19 of 133 counties and cities.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 43
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Seabeach AmaranthAmaranthus pumilus
- Groundsel-treeBaccharis halimifolia
- Seashore SaltgrassDistichlis spicata
- Northern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia polygonifolia
- Bigleaf Marsh-elderIva frutescens
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- Seabeach KnotweedPolygonum glaucum
- Dwarf GlasswortSalicornia bigelovii
- Slender Sea-purslaneSesuvium maritimum
- Saltmarsh CordgrassSpartina alterniflora
- Annual Sea-bliteSuaeda linearis
- Sea OxeyeBorrichia frutescens
- Twig-rushCladium mariscoides
- Spoonleaf SundewDrosera intermedia
- Creeping SpikerushEleocharis fallax
- Dwarf SpikerushEleocharis parvula
- Beaked SpikerushEleocharis rostellata
- Estuary PipewortEriocaulon parkeri
- Red FescueFestuca rubra
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- Rice CutgrassLeersia oryzoides
- Carolina Sea-lavenderLimonium carolinianum
- Welsh MudwortLimosella australis
Wildlife 218
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Gull-billed TernGelochelidon nilotica
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
- Laughing GullLeucophaeus atricilla
- Least BitternIxobrychus exilis
- Least SandpiperCalidris minutilla
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Lesser YellowlegsTringa flavipes
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Northern Rough-winged SwallowStelgidopteryx serripennis
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Pied-billed GrebePodilymbus podiceps
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Red-throated LoonGavia stellata
- Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensis
- Royal TernThalasseus maximus
- Ruddy DuckOxyura jamaicensis
- Snowy EgretEgretta thula
- Stilt SandpiperCalidris himantopus
- Surf ScoterMelanitta perspicillata
- Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgiana
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- Tundra SwanCygnus columbianus
- WilletTringa semipalmata
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for American Oystercatcher Brackish or salt water only
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)








































