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Black Skimmer Rynchops
niger |
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The
Black Skimmer is distributed from the USA through Central America
and into most of South America to southern Chile and southern
Argentina. It is found mainly on the coast but in South America
is also found on the sandbars and beaches of large
rivers. |
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There are 3 sub-species and I
assume that these photos are of the race R. n.
intercedens. There is a lot of migration and it is worth
checking particularly the underwings, the width of the white on
the trailing edge and the extent of white on the upper tail.
R. n. niger, which breeds in North and Central America,
has white underwings, a broad white trailing edge and a white
tail with a dark central streak. R. n. cinarescens has
grey underwings, a narrow white trailing edge and a black upper
tail. R. n. intercedens is intermediate between these
two. |
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The Black Skimmer is amazing
to watch as it feeds on fish which it catches by skimming the
surface of the sea or river with its long lower mandible
submerged. On hitting a fish, the mandibles close and the beak is
bent below the body before the bird flies a bit higher to swallow
the fish in flight. |
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