Daily Bird: Black Skimmer

June 3, 2020

Black Skimmer
Rynchops niger

Edited from a version published in 2014

by Milan Bull, Senior Director of Science and Conservation

Skimmers are amazing-looking and are uncommon enough to be worth watching for. You have to pick the right spot. In Connecticut that’s often the Milford Point Coastal Center or Sandy Point in West Haven.

Photo by Henwell Chou.

What it looks like: A large, black and white, tern-like waterbird, the Black Skimmer has a distinctive large red bill. Typically skimmers fly low over the water with the lower mandible cutting the surface hoping to catch small fish. Watch the two quick videos here, by Gilles Carter, and you’ll see how a young Black Skimmer does it.

Skimmers are the only birds with the lower mandible longer than the upper. When at rest, they often group together on sand and gravel bars, their black backs and white underparts visible at long distances.

Scan the offshore bars for a small group of larger black and white birds sitting on the sand. Skimmers are fairly good-sized birds, about 17 inches long, and are generally grouped together.

Interesting facts: Although skimmers can be active during the day, they are most active at dawn and dusk when small fish venture near the water’s surface. Captain Ian Devlin of East Norwalk often hears them feeding as early as 4 a.m.

Last summer he wrote this on the COA listserve: “My 2 Black Skimmers [were] back again feeding in my cove around the Veterans Park marina lights at 4am. I have been observing this fairly unusual time to feed for the last 6 years with them. They appear virtually at anytime. I live across the street with my window open, and can hear them calling, which alerts me they are back feeding. I walk to my front porch, then to the street or the park to watch them at night.”

Conservation status: Black Skimmers are listed by the IUCN as a species of Least Concern. However, rising sea levels may impact the beaches and sand bars that they require for nesting in the future. The main threat to skimmers is development or other loss of their beach-nesting habitat, since they nest on exactly the kinds of beaches that people like to vacation on. In addition to habitat loss, skimmer nests can be destroyed by roaming dogs and by vehicles that are allowed to drive on beaches.