If you're a birder, you'll know what a life list is. It's basically a list of all the bird species one has observed and positively ID'd in one's lifetime. This blog is a record of my "critter" life list (mostly of birds), including photos I've taken over the years, some of the actual lifer if I was lucky enough to get the shot. Don't expect National Geographic quality stuff here, just the work of an amateur photog who loves to trudge out into nature.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)

7/13/02 Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, Orange County, CA 
7/13/02 Upper Newport Bay

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Black Skimmer

SPECIES: Rynchops niger

FAMILY: Laridae (Gulls & Terns)

LIFE LIST DATE: 7/13/02

LOCATION: Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, Newport Beach, Orange County, CA

From Kaufman Focus Guide-Birds of North America:

HABITAT/BEHAVIOR: A bizarre relative of the terns. Feeds by flying low, trailing its long lower mandible in the water, then snapping its bill shut when it detects a minnow. Flocks rest on beaches, fly with slow beats of long wings. 

IDENTIFYING MARKS: 18" w44"; Black above, white below, with lower mandible much longer than upper. Long wings make resting bird look like long, low, black triangle. 

VOICE: Short, barking wurf, wurf.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)