Tiny transmitters track migration of American oystercatcher

A stroll down the beach is part of courtship for these oystercatchers. (Photo by Walker Golder, Audubon North Carolina)

When the migrating urge hit the American oystercatcher named CFX in mid-August, he took off from his Outer Banks home to join the party gathering on Capers Island, off Charleston.

There, up to 1,000 of his fellows, striking black-and-white shorebirds with long orange beaks and orange-ringed eyes, fly in from Texas to Maine to spend the winters.