For the past five years I have watched and photographed Black Skimmers draw straight lines with their bills on the marsh water at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, always wondering if they ever catch anything. They must, since they still exist and are actually thriving. Here’s a shot of a bunch of them yesterday.
Black Skimmers.
Following is a closer look from a week ago.
Black Skimmers.
They skim the water anywhere there may be fish, even right next to other birds.
Black Skimmer cruising by a Snowy Egret.
The following series of shots shows one that finally got a fish on camera!
Black Skimmer.
Black Skimmer.
Black Skimmer.
Black Skimmer: “Caught one!”
neihtn 
Super photos … stunning birds 🙂
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Thank you Julie!
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The last series of him catching a fish are amazing shots, Hien!
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Thank you Donna!
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Impressive! Great shots of a beautiful bird. 😊
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Thank you Irene!
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Lovely action sequences. Obviously this technique of fishing requires much precision.
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Thank you! I am still amazed at their ability to catch fish.
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Orange beaks! It must be great to see them in action.
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Their beaks look like some artist painted them! 🙂
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Stunning captures, Hien. Now we know why they are called skimmers….
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Thank you Marcus!
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Your persistence, patience, and love of nature all came together for this great series of images! I didn’t realize how large the skimmers were either until this post, I thought that they were much smaller.
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Thank you Jerry! These birds look big because of their long wings, but they are about the size of a crow.
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That’s still much larger than what I thought, which was about the size of a killdeer
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Great images, especially the last one! 😀
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Thanks Cheryl!
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That last shot is especially good – one can see the catchlight in its eye, the fish and water droplets. I didn’t realize how big they are until I saw it behind the snowy egret.
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Thank you Elioza! These birds have a wingspan of about 4 ft (127 cm) and are about the size of a crow.
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Bigger than I thought!
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The wings on these birds look huge! Beautiful photos, Hien.
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Thank you Lois. They do have long wings, I am guessing for stability when they are flying to catch their fish.
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What amazing birds. I can now see why they are called “skimmers” 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
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It’s amazing that they evolved this way of catching their food. It certainly does not look easy. Thanks Takami!
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