2025 Meeting of the American Oystercatcher Working Group
25th Anniversary Edition!
The 2025 annual meeting of the American Oystercatcher Working Group blew into Cape May, NJ on the heels of a nor’easter. From October 15-17th, the group of 123 attendees met virtually on Zoom and in-person at the historic and picturesque Cape May Point Arts and Science Center while raptors and monarch butterflies streamed overhead. Not only was this the first time the meeting had been held in New Jersey for over 20 years, it marked the 25th anniversary of the Working Group’s existence. The local committee, representing three agencies or NGOs and a whole passel of volunteers, pulled off a busy schedule complete with multiple field trips hosted by some of the best local birders Cape May has to offer and the first pew-based seating area in the group’s history. The meeting also commemorated the life and contributions of Shiloh Schulte, who led AMOY conservation efforts for over two decades. The continuation of the Working Group’s mission and annual gathering of friends and colleagues to support this work are a huge part of his legacy. So, raise a glass to the local committee for pulling this meeting off—Sam Collins, Emily Heiser, Meghan Kolk, Emmy Casper, Todd Pover, Kashi Davis, Lisa Ferguson, plus the many 2025 NJ technical volunteers—and please use and enjoy the resources on this page.
Meeting Documents
- Draft agenda | Final agenda
- Day 1 Notes | Day 2 Notes (Thanks to note takers Sarah Karpanty, Abby Sterling, and Raya Pruner!)
- Archival information and welcome packet
- Archival daily schedule at a glance
Meeting Recordings
Each day of the meeting was recorded and is available in the links below. Please email Lindsay Addison for the password to open/download them.
Presentations
- Remembering Shiloh – Stephen Brown
- 2025 Range-wide breeding season overview – Tim Keyes
- Evolution of South Carolina seabird sanctuaries: Closures and bird protections – Felicia Sanders
- Bird island protection in Florida – Julia Magill
- Georgia Bird island Rule amendments – Tim Keyes
- The impact of community-based social marketing on shorebirds along the Atlantic coast – Sarah Saunders and Sami Livingston
- Connecting coastlines: How AMOY practitioners can contribute to conservation social science – Jesse McLaughlin
- Long Island, NY camera project update – Shelby Casas and Matthew Bauer
- Using trail cameras to understand threats to nesting American Oystercatcher in NYC: Update – Emilio Tobon
- Visually sexing oystercatchers – Lyn Brown
- North Carolina’s breeding season census – Carmen Johnson and Lindsay Addison
- Human induced reduction in pre-fledging success – Swati Banerjee
- GSM tracking update – Beth Amendola
- Site Update: Rockaway Beach – Amber Krauss
- Virginia habitat restoration: shell rake platforms – Zak Poulton
- Chincoteague NWR parking lot update – Lyn Brown and Edie Levine-Barnoff
- Oyster rake enhancement for breeding AMOY on the South Amelia River – Hailey Dedmon
- Massachusetts habitat restoration projects update – Jamie Infanti
- Georgia restoration projects update – Tim Keyes
- Gravelly Shores: Securing a future for beach-nesting shorebirds in England – Mike Short
- Strengthening Latin American and Caribbean participation in the American Oystercatcher Working Group – Salvadora Morales
- Between Eggs and Chicks: A Weekly Marathon Following Oystercatchers – Jesús Díaz-Morales
- Spatial distribution and conservation status of foraging and nesting American Oystercatchers in an area impacted by an oil spill on the central coast of Peru – Emil Ludwin Rivas Mogollon
- Oystercatchers in a changing landscape: Consequences of climate-driven ecosystem change on nesting habitat in Virginia – Mikayla Call
- Home range variation in AMOY across breeding seasons – Trevor MacLaurin
- Tradeoffs used during reproduction by the American Oystercatcher in North Carolina – Kate Goodenough and Lindsay Addison
- American Oystercatchers in Boston Harbor – Lyra Brenan and Beth Howards
- Banded American Oystercatchers in Georgia: A look at breeding records – Kristen Johnson
- Foraging trip parameters in Charleston Harbor, SC – Amber Litterer
- 2025 AMOY Band Database stats – Lindsay Addison
State Updates
- Alabama – Olivia Morpeth
- Connecticut – Beth Amendola
- Delaware – Kat Christie
- Florida – Raya Pruner
- Georgia – Tim Keyes
- Massachusetts – Rose Caplan
- Mississippi – Emile Stubbardt, in meeting recording
- New York – various, in meeting recording
- North Carolina – Lindsay Addison
- Rhode Island – Maureen Durkin
- South Carolina – Janet Thibault
- Texas – Rebecca Bracken
- Virginia – Alex Wilke
Photos
We will learn how to make an album and put it here, we hope.
Activities to Remember and Celebrate Shiloh
- Wednesday morning 5k run/walk
- Shiloh slideshow
- Plenary session
- Update on effort to publish the results of the winter aerial surveys
- Thursday evening fire pit