Black Skimmer

Status Rare vagrant. Not including the large numbers brought to our shores in 1924 and 1968 by hurricanes, there have been only two reported, neither apparently associated with storms: at Cape Sable on 20 July 1964 (S. Smith) and another on Sable Island on 14 August 1965 (C. and N. Bell). Following the hurricane that struck our coast on 26 August 1924, many Black Skimmers, along with numbers of other southern species, were scattered along our Southwestern and Eastern Shores. Many were dead and others were emaciated. Hurricane "Gladys" passed over Cape Breton Island on 21 October 1968 and brought several species of southern birds, including hundreds of Black Skimmers. The first one was seen near Three Fathom Harbour, Halifax County, on 22 October and many others were seen in the same general area on 27 October. From then on they were reported from widely separated points, in numbers ranging from one to the estimated 200 seen at Jeddore, Halifax County, on 1 November; the latest were two near Dartmouth on 8 December. Some were said to be dying not surprising because, given their specialized manner of feeding (see Remarks), it is unlikely that these storm-borne waifs had been able to obtain food on their journey to Nova Scotia.

Remarks Black Skimmers are unmistakable: black above (dusky in immatures), white below, with large red, black-tipped bills, the lower mandible longer than the upper. They breed on the warm-water coasts of North and South America, north to Massachusetts on the Atlantic. Their name is derived from the peculiar manner by which they obtain their food: they skim over the water with their beaks tipped downward, cutting the surface of the water with the sharp edges of their lower mandibles to scoop up small fishes.