# Black Skimmer

*Rynchops niger*

They are the only birds in the world with a lower mandible (beak) significantly longer than the upper one.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Laridae › Rynchops
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** aquatic
- **Habitat:** Coastal beaches, estuaries, salt marshes, and lagoons.
- **Diet:** Small fish (such as Atlantic silversides) and small crustaceans.
- **Range:** Atlantic Coast of North America, Gulf Coast, Pacific Coast of South America, Caribbean Islands
- **Size:** Length: 40-50 cm; Wingspan: 107-127 cm
- **Lifespan:** Up to 20 years
- **Active:** crepuscular
- **Threats:** Habitat loss due to coastal development, human disturbance of nesting sites, sea-level rise, and plastic pollution.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless and shy. Maintain a distance of at least 50 meters, especially on beaches where they nest on the sand. If birds take flight or 'bark' at you, move away immediately to prevent nest abandonment. They do not pose a threat to humans.

## About

The black skimmer ( Rynchops niger ) is a tern-like seabird, one of three very similar birds species in the skimmer genus Rynchops in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North and South America. Northern populations winter in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the tropical and subtropical Pacific coasts, but the South American races make only shorter movements in response to annual floods which extend their feeding areas in the river shallows.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/a229b01b-6b8a-4bb4-9e23-66410e68683c
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4496
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rynchops niger
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/176696760/medium.jpeg (Bill Levine, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.