{"id":2840,"date":"2011-07-31T17:26:24","date_gmt":"2011-07-31T23:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2840"},"modified":"2025-09-18T13:33:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:33:31","slug":"black-skimmers-down-and-dirty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/31\/black-skimmers-down-and-dirty\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Skimmers – Down And Dirty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Calling\u00a0Calling adult Black Skimmer in breeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/640, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

From mid March until November I was always\u00a0prepared to sweat.\u00a0And sweat some more.<\/p>\n

I suspect that is all part of being addicted to bird photography. Dedicated bird photographers will endure heat, hunger, extreme cold, blistered feet, numb fingers, and much more to get their shots.<\/p>\n

I’m sure to outsiders we look crazy.<\/p>\n

The day I took the images in this post I arrived at the north beach of Fort De Soto<\/span><\/a> before sunrise to a light sea fog which burned off rather quickly and after that the heat was on.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

According to my EXIF information It was 7:15 am when I first started photographing\u00a0where the flock of birds were that morning.<\/p>\n

Many yards away from the birds I dropped down to my knees then laid on my belly and slowly sand-crawled within range.<\/p>\n

Sand-crawling is not just a way to get closer to your subject it is also low cost dermabrasion for\u00a0your elbows, tummy feet and any other exposed part of your skin.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Black Skimmer sneaking by – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 340mm, natural light.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had seen\u00a0from a distance that\u00a0there 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.<\/p>\n

The safety and well-being of the birds is always<\/em> uppermost in my mind.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0and to use my bandana to wipe the sweat from my brow.<\/p>\n

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 morning.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The juvenile skimmers were either laying down on the sand resting or begging\u00a0 for food when they could see or hear the adults nearby.<\/p>\n

The image above shows a juvenile moving towards one of its parents to get some food.\u00a0 This pose and image reminds me of an old magazine cartoon, I think it was called “Spy VS Spy”.\u00a0 Mad Magazine perhaps?<\/p>\n

Anyway, the pose makes me laugh.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Skimmer adult resting on beach – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/500, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 310mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Because I was laying in a slight depression which was below the birds I was able to get very low angle shots.<\/p>\n

My friends say when my images have such a low angle that I must have been “Down ‘n dirty”.\u00a0 Well I know for sure I was dirty, I had sand everywhere! And I was laying down.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But they are well worth the troubles to get some nice shots.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile (L) and adult (R) Black Skimmers\u00a0 –\u00a0Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 230mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

My patience and laying still for so long\u00a0paid off.\u00a0 I know I took hundreds of Black Skimmer<\/span><\/a> images that morning, some I still have yet to process.<\/p>\n

My EXIF information shows that\u00a0I 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<\/em> photographing those birds. In my mind it was worth every second, all the sand on my skin and the perspiration that at times had burned my eyes.<\/p>\n

Maybe I am crazy to be so addicted to bird photography! A good crazy, I hope.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[163,27,253,25,704,2000],"tags":[4004,4039,3990,4141,4067,4071,872,870,4211,4017,4697,5117,4018],"class_list":["post-2840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-identification","category-avian","category-black-skimmers","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-black-skimmer","tag-fledgling","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-low-angles","tag-patience","tag-rynchops-niger","tag-sand","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-sky"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-juvenile-adult-mia-mcpherson-6738.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-JO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15417,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/18\/black-skimmers-highly-gregarious-and-unmistakable\/","url_meta":{"origin":2840,"position":0},"title":"Black Skimmers – Highly Gregarious And Unmistakable","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Black Skimmers are beautiful and unmistakable, with their long orange\/red black tipped bill, white underparts, blackish upper parts and distinctive barking call.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmer adult on beach at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6611,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/19\/black-skimmer-flying-on-over\/","url_meta":{"origin":2840,"position":1},"title":"Black Skimmer flying on over…","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I took this photo in Florida in 2008 as the adult Black Skimmer flew by whilst giving me \"the eye\". 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.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-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10970,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/22\/black-skimmers-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":2840,"position":3},"title":"Black Skimmers In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed these Black Skimmers in flight at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida one cool January morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmers in flight over Fort De Soto\u2019s north beach, 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":26057,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/02\/the-use-of-decoys-for-colonial-nesting-seabirds-and-the-need-for-protected-nesting-areas\/","url_meta":{"origin":2840,"position":4},"title":"Use of Decoys for Colonial-nesting Seabirds and the Need for Protected Nesting Areas","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 2, 2015","format":"chat","excerpt":"On an extremely hot April day I was out on Egmont Key for a Florida Master Naturalist class and from a distance I thought I saw some Black Skimmers and Least Terns resting on a beach but they turned out to be decoys.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Least Tern looking for breakfast at Fort De 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