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Black skimmers (Rynchops niger), with crisp black and white feathering and bright orange legs and upper bills, are distinctive-looking shorebirds.

To feed on their diet of fish, black skimmers fly just above the surface of the body of water in which they’re feeding. They drop their lower bill into the water and then by touch and feel they snag a fish. Because their fishing is done by touch and not sight, they can feed at night. Skimmers are the only known bird in the world that uses this technique to feed.

On Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, black skimmers are mostly warm weather residents. There are only a few to be seen now.

Their squeaky call sounds like a child’s noise-making stuffed toy when squeezed, noted USFWS.

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