Skimmers
Black Skimmer
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Suborder:	Lari
Family:	Rynchopidae Bonaparte, 1838
Genus:	Rynchops Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) African Skimmer (Rynchops flavirostris) Indian Skimmer (Rynchops albicollis)

The Skimmers, Rynchopidae, are a small family of tern-like birds in the order Charadriiformes, which also includes the waders, gulls and auks. The family comprises three species found in South Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

The three species 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 streams.^[1] Their lower mandiable skims or slices over the water's surface ready to snap shut any small fish unable to dart clear. They are the only birds known to have slit-shaped pupils.^[2] They are one of the most agile birds in air that gather in large flocks, loafing on river and coastal sand banks.^[3]

They are tropical and subtropical species which lay 3-6 eggs on sandy beaches. The female incubates the eggs. Because of the species' restricted nesting habitat the three species are vulnerable to disturbance at their nesting sites. One species, the Indian Skimmer, is considered vulnerable by the IUCN due to this as well as destruction and degradation of the lakes and rivers it uses for feeding.

See Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy for an alternative classification. The genus name Rynchops is often misspelled Rhynchops (as in some of the later editions of the works of Linnaeus), though the first version is taxonomically valid, being Linnaeus's original spelling.

[edit] References

1. ^ Mariano-Jelicich, R; Favero, M. and Silva, M.P. (February 2003). "Fish Prey of the Black Skimmer Rynchops Niger at Mar Chiquita, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina". Marine Ornithology 31: 199–202. http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/31_2/31_2_199-202.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-29. 
2. ^ On the Slit Pupil of the Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)
3. ^ Fusco, P.J. "Connecticut Wildlife." Connecticut Department of Environment Protection Bureau of Natural Resources - Wildlife Division. May-June 2006. Accessed 2009-06-29.

• BirdLife International (2007) Species factsheet: Rynchops albicollis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 20/5/2007

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rynchopidae

• Skimmer videos on the Internet Bird Collection