Black Skimmers and Co.

One of my goals for the trip to Cape May was to see Black Skimmers. I had heard about them from Susan and Laura, seen photos on the Internet, and read about how their oversized lower mandible is used to skim fish from the surface of the ocean, but nothing prepared me for the sight of these beauties in person.

I had gone back to the condo on Friday afternoon, to shower and rest after a hard morning of birding. I was clean and dry and comfy, ready to relax, when Susan called me from the beach. "Laura and I are at the Second Avenue jetty and there are tons of skimmers! Get down here," she exclaimed. I thought about it for 30 seconds, then reluctantly declined. My bed was calling.

Saturday morning, Lynne and I came out of Uncle Bill's Pancake House, a Cape May institution. Breakfast here is a requirement of the Autumn Weekend. As we were taking pictures of the sign (don't ask!), I noticed an odd flock of birds wheeling and diving over the water's edge. "Look at those strange gulls," I commented. Lynne did a double-take. "Those aren't gulls," she replied. "They're ..." We looked at each other. "SKIMMERS!"

We hopped in the car and followed them along the beach. When they stopped, we stopped, parking the car quickly and grabbing our bins and cameras. We tracked them to their resting place.

Black Skimmers - what an incredible bird!

click on any photo to enlarge

The adults are black and white, with an outlandish red-orange and black bill. First year birds are sooty gray, smudged versions of their parents. The difference in bill length is less dramatic, too.


With the skimmers were a flock of Forester's Terns and a Laughing Gull.

foreground: Laughing Gull
middle left: adult Black Skimmer, followed by 2 juveniles
rear and right side: Forester's Terns

The whole flock, including some tern action.