Three Aloft
by Dawn Currie
Title
Three Aloft
Artist
Dawn Currie
Medium
Photograph - Digital
Description
Photographic artwork by Dawn Currie. Three Black Skimmers in flight. Photographed in Sebastian Inlet State Park.
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Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger): The remarkable bill of the Black Skimmer sets it apart from all other American birds. The large red and black bill is knife-thin and the lower mandible is longer than the upper. The bird drags the lower bill through the water as it flies along, hoping to catch small fish.
The Black Skimmer is the only American representative of the skimmer family. The other two, rather similar, species are the African Skimmer and the Indian Skimmer. All use the same unusual feeding method.
Black Skimmers can be found on open sandy beaches, on gravel or shell bars with sparse vegetation, or on mats of tide-stranded debris in saltmarsh. Much of this species' original beach habitat has been developed as houses and attractions for beachgoers. Particularly in the southeastern U.S., artificial islands made from dredge spoils are an important nesting habitat for this and other species.
The Black Skimmer has one of the most unusual foraging styles of any North American bird. A feeding skimmer flies low over the water with its bill open and its lower mandible slicing the surface. When the mandible touches a fish, the upper bill (maxilla) snaps down instantly to catch it. Skimmers are highly social birds, nesting in colonies and forming large flocks outside the breeding season.
I have seen these birds all along the coast of central and south Florida. My favorite spots to photograph them are Sebastian Inlet State Park and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Uploaded
January 20th, 2014
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Viewed 3,865 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/26/2024 at 3:21 PM
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Comments (49)
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations! Your lovely art has been featured on the ABC Group home page from the T IS For TRIO week, December 13, 2021 - DECEMBER 20, 2021. You are invited to add your wonderful art in the Features Archive Discussion in the ABC GROUP as a way to preserve your feature!
Don Columbus
Congratulations Dawn, your work is Featured in "A Birding Group - Wings" I invite you to place it in the group's "2019 Featured Image Archive" Discussion!! L/Tweet