ABOUT THIS SPECIES
BLACK SKIMMER – (Species Account Weblog #69)
TAXONOMIC TREE:
- ORDER: Charadriiformes,
- FAMILY: Laridae,
- BINOMIAL NAME: Rynchops niger
The Black Skimmer, certainly one of North America’s most distinctive coastal waterbirds, is famous for its uncommon voice, invoice, and feeding conduct. Its invoice—brightly coloured, laterally compressed, and knife-like, with the decrease mandible extending past the maxilla—is uniquely tailored to catch small fish in shallow water. A feeding skimmer flies low over the water with its invoice open and its decrease mandible slicing the floor. (from Birds of the World)
SIMILAR SPECIES
From afar, an inexperienced observer may confuse a skimmer with a equally toned black-and-white shorebird, American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). Nevertheless, Black Skimmer is actually distinctive for its mixture of an unmistakable invoice plus quick vivid legs.
DISTRIBUTION
PERSONAL OBSERVATION ANECDOTES
In Costa Rica we noticed Black Skimmers combined in with Laughing Gulls whereas on the boat tour on the mouth of the Tárcoles River.
PHOTO GALLERY
**A few of these Picture Gallery pictures (all taken by me) have been taken in different close by international locations.
RECENT BLOG POSTS
View the 5 most up-to-date Birds & Birding in Costa Rica sequence weblog posts beneath.
