Black Skimmer Banding in Pinellas / report

A total of 46 hatch-year Black Skimmers were banded at two Pinellas County nesting colonies this summer. Leg bands are green with white lettering. All bands have “A” as the first digit followed by two numbers. The bands are highly visible and easy to read with binoculars. The code is printed twice, on opposite sides of each band.

Please report sightings to Beth Forys at forysea@eckerd.edu

We’ve alerted bandedbirds.org about these newly banded skimmers so if you report there, that’s fine too.

We just received via Facebook the first resighting of one of these banded birds away from its natal colony on the south mainland of the county. The bird was photographed on the north end of Three Rooker Island!

3 Rooker Island

” 3 rooker first formed in about 1961 as a sand bar and has grown over the years. There is no fresh water on the island and therefore no mammalian predators. The bird steward program started several years ago and has grown. Over the past 2 years we have been fortunate enough to have gotten support from FWC and Audubon Florida in that they have provided a boat, dockage, and gas which has enabled us to significantly expand the program. We have volunteers out every weekend and Memorial day and the 4th of July from 01 May to 01 August. There are about 7,000 pairs of birds of numerous species nesting and raising young.”       John Hood, President Clearwater Audubom

This week the Black Skimmers were acting strange.

They have something to hide.

I gently wave at a skimmer protecting the nest.

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Photo credit : Susan Crow

Black Skimmer

The strange, uneven bill of the skimmer has a purpose: the bird flies low, with the long lower mandible plowing the water, snapping the bill shut when it contacts a fish. Strictly coastal in most areas of North America, Black Skimmers are often seen resting on sandbars and beaches. Unlike most birds, their eyes have vertical pupils, narrowed to slits to cut the glare of water and white sand. Flocks in flight may turn in unison, with synchronized beats of their long wings. The world’s three species of skimmers are sometimes placed in their own separate family, although they are clearly related to the terns.

http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/black-skimmer

Shorebirds

    Black Skimmer, Ring-billed Gull, Laughing Gull, Willet, American Oyestercatcher and Marbled Godwit gather for the evening sunset.