Page 33 - BBC Wildlife - August 2017 UK

IN FOCUS

inFOCUS This seemingly through the water,” says Joanna Burger of
“Their bill is very thin vertically, so it slices
affectionate Florida
beach scene hides a Rutgers University, New Jersey. She has Thomas Chadwick
PECKING struggle for survival. studied the birds for 40 years and describes
A young skimmer chick,
how they are perfectly suited to fishing trips
barely able to stand
at just over a week for herring or small mullet. “Their skull is
specially adapted so that the force from
ORDER old, begs its parent for colliding with a fish does not break their bill.”
food. It is desperate,
Skimmers are also the only birds known
having been bullied
by a brother or sister to be able to narrow their pupils to vertical
slits, a characteristic that's thought to help
Life is most certainly not a beach for that has taken full with nocturnal vision, depth perception and
young SKIMMER chicks, says Ella Davies. advantage of hatching protection of the retina in bright daylight.
a few days earlier. Joanna explains that they mostly fish after
Skimmers care for their chicks for up to a dark but will hunt in the morning or late
month, and with an average clutch of four afternoon as chicks become older. The rest
eggs, sibling rivalry can be rough. of their day is spent in social colonies. Nests
Black skimmers, which live along US and are scrapes kicked into the sand by both
Central American coasts and in much of males and females. “They switch incubation
South America, have one of the strangest duties, and both parents protect the chicks
bills in the bird world. Named for their and feed them,” says Joanna.
unique feeding technique, they The young hatch with comparatively
skim low over the sea, lagoons or ‘normal’, equal-length bills, so must rapidly
rivers in search of a meal. That develop the uneven skimmer shape to be
distinctive longer lower mandible able to find their own food as fledglings.
continually drags through OElla Davies is a wildlife writer who reports on
the water and snaps shut on the weird and wonderful. Watch a video of
contact with a fish. young skimmers at www.bbc.in/2rD3Twy

Feed me: a tiny black
skimmer chick pleads with
its parent. Skimmers are
related to gulls, with two
other species found in
Africa and southern Asia.