#1395 · 🐦 birds

Black Skimmer

🇳🇱 Amerikaanse Schaarbek ·Rynchops niger

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 outside Europe

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Scott · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Eric Carpenter · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Isaac Lord · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Josh Olive · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
5. © Ronald W Smith · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. 10980 Heckscher Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32226, USA:© C. Phillips · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. Rietvlei Wetlands:© Michael McSweeney · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. San Joaquin Marsh, Irvine, CA 92612, USA:© Alexander Viduetsky · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. LA PAZ:© Bill Levine · CC BY 4.0
10. Ciudad del Plata, Departamento de San José, Uruguay:© Adrian Antunez · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

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.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 25,880iNaturalist observations
weight 349 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
25,880 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 349 g.
Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).