Cantilevered

(Black Skimmer)

Think of me as mostly wing
for that is what I am.

The Black Skimmer in California is the largest of the several races found in North America. The male is larger than the female, but they average 16-20 inches in length and sail on amazing 42-50-inch wingspans.

It’s rare to be able to report that their number, unlike that of so many birds, is actually increasing in this day and age, and I discovered that their presence here in Long Beach began only in the early 1960s! By the early 1980s, they were found nesting south in Baja, CA, around the Salton Sea and north in several areas up and through Monterey Bay. Perhaps their growing number is helped along by the fact that the weather in these areas permits them to nest well into September.

Their name, Skimmer, entirely captures their feeding behavior, which begs the question of whether it predated or followed the evolution of their beak. With good binoculars or a scope, you’ll see that the lower beak is much longer than the upper beak. (As hatchlings they are the same length.) The longer, knife-like mandible is dropped into the water as they skim over shallow waters in search of small fish. When the lower beak strikes a fish, the upper beak automatically clamps down to capture the tasty morsel.