How to Identify aBlack Skimmer
Rynchops niger · 15.8–19.7 in (40–50 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Black above and white below with a huge red-and-black bill whose lower mandible juts well past the upper. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical in pattern but noticeably smaller.
Male photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Second photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field marks
- Lower bill dramatically longer than the upper
- Knife-thin, laterally flattened bill
- Very long wings and a short forked tail
- Cat-like vertical pupils, unique among birds
Similar species
What it sounds like
A nasal barking "kaup kaup", sounding more like a small dog than a bird.
Behaviour that gives it away
Feeds by flying low with the long lower bill slicing the water, snapping shut the moment it strikes a fish.
Habitat & range
Sandy beaches, sandbars, salt marshes and coastal lagoons.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in eastern, southeastern and western North America you are, it is present all year and a summer visitor that arrives to breed.
What it eats
Small fish caught by skimming the water surface in flight.
Did you know?
It is the only bird with vertical, cat-like pupils, thought to cut the glare of sand and water.
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