Sunset at the Shoreline?
© 2020 Pam Ferris-Olson
Among the birds that nest along beaches, sand spits, and islands from the Texas to Florida in the Gulf and then north along the Atlantic to Long Island in New York, the Black Skimmer may be the most unique in appearance and feeding behavior. Their orange and black beak is mismatched; the lower portion being longer than the upper. As the bird flies along the surface of the water it skims up fish; hence the name.
Because the skimmers nest along beaches and in colonies, it is extremely vulnerable to disturbance by people. Sources of human disturbance include recreational activities; habitat loss due to building of homes, commercial properties and coastal engineering projects; shoreline hardening; mechanical raking; and pets. Additional negative impacts come from sea level rise, oil spills, and plastic pollution.
Sometimes seemingly unrelated activities can have enormous consequences. For example, in 2015 an entire nesting colony on Marco Island, Florida was decimated by crows. A trash container placed near the colony is thought to have attracted crows. Over the course of a month, the crows destroyed the eggs and chicks from 600 pairs of nesting adults.
Posting of informational signs and delineating nesting areas by rope lines are the primary means of protecting nesting skimmers. The results are often inadequate as in North Carolina where the Audubon Society noted that a count of 2000 pairs in the 1970s now numbers approximately 800 pairs.