2020 (ish) Meeting of the American Oystercatcher Working Group

The AMOY Working Group held its 20th annual meeting on Zoom (like everything else in 2020) on February 2-5, 2021. While we could not meet in person, we were grateful that the remote meeting allowed for more people to engage, with attendance totaling a record 99 individuals from Maine to Chile. The meeting also saw the first-ever virtual yet in-person bestowal of the AMOY Working Group Award.

The presentations sparked lively discussion among site managers, field biologists and technicians, researchers, students, professors, and volunteers. The meeting notes capture the spoken conversation as well as exchanges in the chat box (thank you, Alex!). Coming out of the meeting, the Working Group formed new sub-committees to work in the following areas: Habitat, Productivity, Capture and Banding, and Website. If you are interested in joining one of these teams, email the Steering Committee.

Meeting Documents

• Meeting Agenda
• Meeting Notes – Day 1
• Meeting Notes – Day 2
• Meeting Notes – Day 3
• Meeting Notes – Day 4
• Meeting Information
• Attendance

Video Recordings

Each day of the meeting was recorded and is available in the links below. Note that the habitat restoration session breakout groups could not be recorded, so refer to the meeting notes for that content. Please email Lindsay Addison for the password to open/download them.

• Day 1 Video
• Day 2 Video
• Day 3 Video
• Day 4 Video

Presentations

• American Oystercatcher status update – Shiloh Schulte
• Applying conservation social science insights to reduce the threats to Atlantic Flyway shorebirds – Ashley Dayer and Carolyn Comber
• American Oystercatcher monitoring in Chile: Status, community monitoring, & local conservation initiatives – Ivo Tejada and Sharon Montecino
• Oystercatcher research and management in Latin America: Gulf of Fonseca, Central America – Salvadora Morales
• American Oystercatcher populations and conservation in Latin America: WHSRN team update – Rob Clay and Arne Lesterhuis
• Loss of coastal islands along Florida’s Big Bend: Implications for breeding oystercatchers – Nick Vitale
• Barnegat Light beach nesting bird habitat restoration – Todd Pover
• Using dredged sediments to create elevated nesting habitats for species of concern in wetland areas – Samantha Collins
• Shell rake restoration opportunities in Virginia – Alex Wilke
• Reefs, rakes, and permitting dredge islands in North Carolina – Lindsay Addison
• The Lake Worth Lagoon oystercatchers – David Carson
• Pursuing opportunities in coastal engineering to reverse shorebird habitat declines in the Western Atlantic – Brad Winn
• Habitat restoration creation and enhancement opportunities along Florida’s Nature Coast – Joe Marchionno
• Assessing drivers of American Oystercatcher productivity on Metompkin Island, VA using cellular tagging technologies – Mikayla Call
• A case study in adaptive predator management for nesting shorebirds – Scott Coleman and Kate Tweedy
• Monitoring the effects of human disturbance on American Oystercatcher nesting behavior on beaches in New York City – Kaitlyn Maffett
• Urban American Oystercatchers of Long Beach Island – Kate Robb

State Updates

• Alabama – Lianne Koczur
• Connecticut – Elizabeth Amendola
• Delaware – Henrietta Bellman
• Florida – Janell Brush
• Georgia – Tim Keyes
• Louisiana – Katie Barnes
• Massachusetts – Carolyn Mostello
• Maryland – Tami Pearl
• Mississippi – Melinda Averhart
• North Carolina – Lindsay Addison
• New York – Kaitlyn Parkins
• Rhode Island – Maureen Durkin
• Texas – Susan Heath
• Virginia – Alex Wilke