Black Skimmer

Rynchops niger

Flies inches over the water with its lower bill slicing the surface. The only bird with a longer lower mandible than upper.

Population: ~500,000–999,999 mature individuals (BirdLife estimates ~800,000)
Habitat: Coastal areas — sandy beaches, sandbars, islands, estuaries, bays, lagoons, mudflats, and saltmarsh pools; nests on open sand/shell/gravel scrapes with sparse vegetation or wrack mats, occasionally on dredge-spoil islands
Fun fact: The Black Skimmer has vertical, cat-like pupils — unusual among birds — and an asymmetrical bill in which the lower mandible, longer than the upper, slices through the water's surface so it can catch fish by touch alone, sometimes at night.
Range: Americas, from the US Atlantic/Gulf coasts (breeding north to about New York/New England) south through Central America, the Caribbean, and much of South America; northern populations winter along Caribbean and tropical/subtropical Atlantic and Pacific coasts; South American populations make shorter seasonal movements tied to river flooding cycles
Diet: Small fish generally under ~5 inches/12 cm (e.g., killifish/mummichog, smelt, silversides, menhaden, bay anchovy, flounder, mullet), plus occasional shrimp/crustaceans and other invertebrates, caught by skimming the water surface with the elongated lower mandible, often at dusk/night
Size: 0.45 m
Wingspan: 1.17 m
Lifespan: 20 years

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