Black Skimmer

BLACK SKIMMER

The Audubon Society describes the black skimmer nesting areas as, "Barrier beaches, natural islands and shoals, and dredged-material islands."
Not surprising that 70 black skimmer adults were recorded on the Great South Bay islands in the Town of Babylon in 2004.

The Black Skimmer, Rynchops Niger,
measures from 16 to 20 inches long.
It is identified by its black cap, back and upperwings
and its sharply contrasting
white forehead, undersides, and underwings.
Its relatively short tail is white with a black center.

Skimmers have red legs
and both sexes look identical.
The male is generally larger than the female.
In the winter the upper plumage is
duller than it is during the breeding season.

Black skimmers breed in colonies, often with terns and gulls along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts as far north as Massachusetts.
The skimmer nest is a simple scrape in the sand or pile of shells.
The eggs, well camouflaged, are sand-colored with black or brown blotches. The clutch of 3 to 5 eggs will generally hatch in 23 days.

Previously called razor-billed shearwater, the black skimmer has a distinctive bill with red-orange at the base and black at the tip.
Laterally compressed and blade-like, the lower mandible is much longer (at least an inch) than the upper mandible.
This characteristic bill is designed to gather food.

The skimmer flies low over the wate
breaking the surface with its lower bill.

When it touches its prey
the skimmer quickly closes its mouth,
capturing a meal.

Small fish and shrimp are the preferred diet
of the skimmer who may also wade
in shallow water jabbing at fish for its meal.

Although it has webbed feet,
it is rare to see a skimmer swimming
it prefers walking and flying.

The colonies of black skimmers arrive on Long Island in May and begin nesting activities.
Egg laying may continue until August and the breeding site may be occupied through mid-September.
Incubation takes about 23 days and the young start to fly in another 23 days. Both parents brood and feed the young.

The chick starts off with regurgitated fish and crustaceans dropped on the ground by the adults and it grows until it can manage a whole fish.
The elongated lower mandible does not appear until the youngster is fully grown.
The parent skimmers may defend their nest by standing their ground, but more likely they will swoop in and fly low at any intruder, all the while screeching, "Kak, kak, kak".

As the young begin to stray from the nest they hide by scrunching down flat in scratched out hollows in the sand.
For camouflage, they partially cover themselves with sand. This behavior also keeps them cool in the summer sun.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has listed the black skimmer as a species of "Special Concern".
This category is intended for "Any native species for which a welfare concern or risk of endangerment has been documented in New York State".

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