Black Skimmers | on the wing photography

Black Skimmer adult in flight

By Mia McPherson, on October 12th, 2011%

Adult Black Skimmer in flight

Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) in flight
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 270mm, natural light

I could always tell when a flock of Black Skimmers were flying in to Fort De Soto’s north beach when I was photographing birds there because I could usually hear their soft, nasal barking yips or yeps before I saw them. It was always a delight to see them flying in to rest on the beach.

Black Skimmers are aerial acrobats, they can execute hairpin turns sharply, are graceful in flight and in flocks they often wheel or bank in unison.

The adult in the image above is in breeding plumage, in nonbreeding plumage there is a gap between the black on the head and the black of the shoulders. Because of the length of the bill I believe this is a female, the beaks of the males are shorter.

Getting the exposure right on Black Skimmers is crucial, the blacks can block up and show little detail if the image is under-exposed and if the image is over-exposed the whites can be blown out and show very little detail in those areas. The underside of this skimmer was lit from below by the white sugar sand of the beach because the bird was only about three feet over the sand as it came in for a landing. I’ve found that in flight against the sky that I might need to increase the exposure and while they were on or near the white sand I would need to use some negative exposure compensation to make sure the whites weren’t hot.

Black Skimmers are mainly found on the coasts of the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and less frequently along the coast line of the Pacific. They are great fun to photograph and observe.

Mia

More Black Skimmer images

Friday Photos – Getting the Whole Picture

By Mia McPherson, on August 26th, 2011%

Mixed flock of Brown Pelicans, Black Skimmers, Gulls and Terns

Mixed flock of Brown Pelicans, Black Skimmers, Gulls and Terns
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 80mm, natural light

As a bird photographer most of the time I work hard to get close up, frame filling images of the birds I am photographing because I want to be able to see fine details in the plumage and the setting the birds are in plus some light in the bird’s eyes yet I often forget that by backing up my zoom, swapping my long lens for a wide angle lens or backing up physically I can get the “whole picture“.

The day that I created the photograph above there were huge schools of bait fish running just off the coast that caused a feeding frenzy among the gulls, terns, skimmers and pelicans that were there. The feeding frenzy was an amazing sight to see as pelicans dove head first into the water to scoop fish up in their large pouches while gulls tried to snatch the fish as the pelicans surfaced and expelled water from their bills. The terns and gulls also made repeated dives into the water into the schools of fish.

I did take some frame filling images of individual birds that I was very happy with but the thought occured to me that I could not quite capture the whole picture of the “flocking” activity of the birds without zooming back with the lens I had attached or by swapping my Nikkor 80-400mm VR lens for the 18-200mm VR that I always carry in my backpack. I don’t care to swap out my lenses in dusty, wet or sandy conditions so I zoomed back to 80mm on the lens I already had attached to capture this mixed flock in flight.

I’m glad I remembered the “whole picture” because I quite like the final results of the photos where I zoomed back that I took that daymorning. While they were not frame filling images of individual birds they do show the behavior of the flock quite well.

I just need to remind myself to think about the whole picture.

Mia

Black Skimmers – Down and dirty

By Mia McPherson, on July 31st, 2011%

Calling adult Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) in breeding plumage
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1/640, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

Anyone who has photographed birds during the month August in Florida knows it is hot and humid even in the early hours of the morning. And it just gets hotter throughout the day. From mid March until November I was always prepared to sweat. And sweat some more.

Part of being addicted to bird photography I suspect. Dedicated bird photographers will endure heat, hunger, extreme cold, blistered feet, numb fingers and much more to get their shots. I’m sure to outsiders we look crazy.

The day I took the images in this post I arrived before sunrise to a light sea fog which burned off rather quickly and after that the heat was on. I wandered around for a bit taking images of shorebirds, egrets and pink fluffy clouds before I noticed a large mixed flock of gulls, terns and skimmers. As I walked towards them I could see hundreds of birds, some on their way out to go get food and some resting on the sand.

According to my EXIF information It was 7:15 am when I first started photographing where the flock of birds were that morning.

Many yards away from the birds I dropped down to my knees then laid on my belly and slowly sand-crawled within range. Sand-crawling is not just a way to get closer to your subject it is also low cost dermabrasion for your elbows, tummy feet and any other exposed part of your skin. It probably took me over 10 minutes of wiggling my way forward in the sand to get into a slight depression where I was close enough to the birds and low enough to get the low angle I wanted for my images.

Juvenile Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) spying on me

Juvenile Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) spying on me
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 340mm, natural light.

I had seen from a distance that there were juveniles in with the adult birds, my plan was to wiggle into that depression and stay put so that I wouldn’t disrupt the young birds or the adults who were flying in to feed them. The safety and well-being of the birds is always uppermost in my mind.

About the only movements I made were to lift my head to the viewfinder, click the shutter button, reach around to my backpack for my bottle of water to sip and to use my bandana to wipe the sweat from my brow. Long before that day I had learned that if I didn’t move much the birds were likely to come closer to me and they did that day. Dressed in light tans and khaki colors I probably began to look like I was part of the beach. Clearly my sweaty skin had enough sand stuck to it to make me look like something the tide had washed up.

I photographed Forster’s, Sandwich and Royal Terns along with Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls that morning but my main focus was on the Black Skimmers in the large mixed flock. The juvenile skimmers were either laying down on the sand resting or begging for food when they could see or hear the adults nearby. The image above shows a juvenile moving towards one of its parents to get some food. This pose and image reminds me of an old magazine cartoon, I think it was called “Spy VS Spy”. Mad magazine perhaps? Anyway, the pose makes me laugh.

Resting adult Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)

Resting adult Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) going out of breeding plumage
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1/500, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 310mm, natural light

Because I was laying in a slight depression which was below the birds I was able to get very low angle shots. My friends say when my images have such a low angle that I must have been “Down ‘n dirty”. Well I know for sure I was dirty, I had sand everywhere! And I was laying down.

Black Skimmers are very long birds from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail and it can be quite a challenge to have enough depth of field to get all of the birds in focus, to compose the frame well and then there is the difficulty of properly exposing a black and white bird with orange legs and bill. But they are well worth the troubles to get some nice shots.

Juvenile (L) and adult (R) Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger)

Juvenile (L) and adult (R) Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger)
Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 230mm, natural light

Because I had been so still I was rewarded a few times by the birds moving closer to me than I would have approached them like the juvenile and adult bird above. It felt like an honor. My patience and laying still for so long paid off. I know I took hundreds of Black Skimmer images that morning, some I still have yet to process.

My EXIF information shows that I took my last skimmer image at 9:33 am which means I laid there in the sand and heat for two hours and eighteen minutes photographing those birds and in my mind it was worth every second, all the sand on my skin and the perspiration that at times had burned my eyes.

Maybe I am crazy to be so addicted to bird photography! A good crazy I hope.

Mia

More Black Skimmer images

The Black Skimmer

By Mia McPherson, on October 6th, 2010%

Flock of Black Skimmers in flight

Flock of Black Skimmers in flight over Fort DeSoto’s north beach
D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 250, 70-300mm VR at 170mm, natural light

Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger) are beautiful and unmistakable, with their long orange/red black tipped bill, white underparts, blackish upperparts and distinctive barking (yip or yep) call, there is no other coastal waterbird in North America that looks anything like them. There also isn’t another waterbird in North America that feeds like they do.

Black Skimmer adults skimming

Black Skimmer adults skimming
D200, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 160, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

The Black Skimmer’s bill has an unusual shape, it is long and thin, the lower mandible is noticeably longer than the upper maxilla. When they are feeding the black skimmer’s lower bill skims the water surface and slices through the water, when the bird senses prey with the lower bill the upper bill snaps shut capturing the prey. Black skimmers usual eat small fish though they may also take small crustaceans. Skimmers are active during the day but they are also successful hunters during the night.

Calling adult Black Skimmer

Adult Black Skimmer calling
D200, handheld while laying in the sand, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 200, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light

Photographing Black Skimmers can be very challenging because of the high contrast of the whites, darks and reds. Additionally their long narrow body shape when resting on the ground can present difficulties with composition.

The dark feathers on the upper part normally have some brown tones, they are not truly black. The adult skimmer in the image above is in breeding plumage, in nonbreeding plumage there is an area above the shoulder to the back of the head that will be white. The male is slightly larger than the female and has a slightly longer bill. The wingspan is about 44 inches.

Juvenile Black Skimmer

Juvenile Black Skimmer
D200, handheld while laying in the sand, f9, 1/500, ISO 160, 80-400mm VR at 330mm, natural light

Juvenile Black Skimmers have the same shape as adults, their bills are shorter and duller. Juveniles have brown mottled feathers on their backs which reminds me of the pattern of herringbone. The juvenile above was capable of flight though it appeared to prefer staying on the beach and having the adults feed it instead of foraging for itself at this age.

Adult Black Skimmer in flight
D200, handheld, f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 250, 80-400mm VR at 400m, natural light

Skimmers are graceful in flight, their wing movements are buoyant. Even from a long distance their flight pattern can be used to identify them. During mating season there can be exciting aerial displays between males.

Adult Black Skimmer landing

Adult Black Skimmer landing
D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1500, ISO 250, 70-300mm VR at 300mm

Highly gregarious skimmers are often seen in large flocks and nest in colonies. If you sit quietly on the beach before dawn you may be able to hear a flock of skimmers coming in from a night of feeding or see them fly into shore in the pale light of dawn, either one an experience you won’t soon forget.

I have more to write about this species at a later time.

Mia

More Black Skimmer images