GULLS and Allies of South America
Gulls, terns, skimmers, skuas, puffins, and their allies belong to the order Charadriiformes and suborder Lari. In general they take food from the sea. Charadriiformes also contains the sandpipers, plovers and their allies. They are in suborder Charadrii and often feed along the shoreline. It is a matter of debate whether the coursers and pratincoles belong with the gulls or with the sandpipers.
Skimmers
Order Charadriiformes Suborder Lari Family Rynchopidae - 1 genus
The Skimmers are a small family of tern-like birds. They are the only birds with distinctive uneven bills with the lower mandible longer than the upper. This remarkable adaptation allows them to fish in a unique way, flying low and fast over surfaces of water. Their lower mandible skims or slices over the water's surface ready to snap shut before a small fish is able to dart clear. They are the only birds known to have slit-shaped pupils. Their bills fall within their field of binocular vision and enable them to carefully position their bill and capture prey. They are tropical and subtropical species which lay 3-6 eggs on sandy beaches. [abstracted from Wikipedia]
Genus Rynchops
Skimmer, Black Rynchops niger Found: The Americas
Photographed by: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7) Dick Daniels - North Carolina 3) Kevin Cole 4. 8) Cláudio Timm - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Juvenile is lighter color
All photos on this site are available for general use. Please credit the photographer. Some images have additional constraints such as no commercial use or no modifications. Click the photo credit link for details. Dick Daniels, webmaster.