{"id":14837,"date":"2014-04-26T06:42:26","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T12:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=14837"},"modified":"2025-09-18T19:18:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T00:18:41","slug":"black-skimmers-at-fort-de-soto-five-years-ago-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/26\/black-skimmers-at-fort-de-soto-five-years-ago-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Skimmers at Fort De Soto Five Years Ago Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BlackBlack Skimmers flying over the Gulf of Mexico – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/500, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 180mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It is really cruddy here in Utah this morning so I thought I would go back in time to a warmer, \u00a0sunnier day via the magic of some Black Skimmer\u00a0images I created five years ago today.<\/p>\n

The sky was clear, there was a light sea breeze and plenty\u00a0of birds to be found at Fort De Soto’s north beach. My Nikkor 80-400mm lens\u00a0was being repaired and I opted to bring my Nikkor 70-300mm\u00a0with me.<\/p>\n

The birds at Fort De Soto are habituated to people\u00a0so they approach closer than they do here in Utah so I had no worries about getting frame filling images.<\/p>\n

For awhile I photographed Willets and Short-billed Dowitchers from inside the lagoon but then I heard a flock of Black Skimmers coming in from the Gulf of Mexico so I headed down the beach and sat down behind a sand dune to photograph the flock\u00a0as they flew in.<\/p>\n

Quite often I would hear the barking “yip”<\/a><\/span> of the skimmers long before I would see them.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Skimmer territorial display – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 145mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Black Skimmers are highly social birds and the flocks can have more than one hundred individuals so the noise they create can be quite loud.<\/p>\n

I was able\u00a0to see and photograph quite a few dramatic, high speed\u00a0aerial chases. These Black Skimmers vocalized the entire time the aerial chase went on, I had a blast photographing them and trying to keep the two birds in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

The light was wonderful and seemed to illuminate even the finest details\u00a0of the skimmers plumage.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Skimmer in flight close up\u00a0– Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Because of my position behind a small sand dune the birds approached my location even closer than normal or maybe they were curious about the woman with one big glass eye.<\/p>\n

I’ll never know for sure but they flew in close several times that allowed me to have frame filling images of the Black Skimmers with the water of the Gulf of Mexico and the clear sky behind them.<\/p>\n

It was a marvelous day at Fort De Soto, I had great company, plenty of birds, the warmth of the sun and the smell of the Gulf… SO very much different from the gray skies and rain here today.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Black Skimmer photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is really cruddy here in Utah this morning so I thought I would go back in time to a warmer, sunnier day via the magic of some Black Skimmer images I created five years ago today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,253,25,704,2000],"tags":[4004,5788,3990,5229,5132,4052,12849,4247,4122,4077,4211,4697,5117,4018,165,2520],"class_list":["post-14837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-black-skimmers","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-aerial-chase","tag-black-skimmer","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-flight","tag-flight-flying","tag-flock","tag-flying","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-rynchops-niger","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-sky","tag-spring","tag-territorial-display"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Rj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101757,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/24\/black-skimmer-photo-from-13-years-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":14837,"position":0},"title":"Black Skimmer Photo From 13 Years Ago","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It was thirteen years ago today when I took this photo of an adult Black Skimmer flying over the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County, Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Black Skimmer flying over the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-skimmer-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-7825.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-skimmer-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-7825.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9399,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/06\/landing-black-skimmer\/","url_meta":{"origin":14837,"position":3},"title":"Landing Black Skimmer","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Black Skimmers are known by several nicknames which include scissorbills, knifebill and cut-water for how their bills slice through the water when they are hunting and how their bills snap shut on prey.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing Black Skimmer on the north beach at Fort De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-landing-mia-mcpherson-7811.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-landing-mia-mcpherson-7811.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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