{"id":31166,"date":"2015-10-26T06:05:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T12:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=31166"},"modified":"2025-09-19T06:43:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:43:41","slug":"a-scoop-of-black-skimmers-flying-past-shell-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/26\/a-scoop-of-black-skimmers-flying-past-shell-key\/","title":{"rendered":"Scoop Of Black Skimmers Flying Past Shell Key"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ScoopScoop of Black Skimmers flying past Shell Key – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 270mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I haven’t seen Black Skimmers in over six years now but in my mind I can still hear them calling<\/span><\/a> when I look at my images of a group of them in flight. A group of skimmers can be called a “conspiracy”, “embezzlement”, and a “scoop”.<\/p>\n

I like scoop because they use their bills to scoop fish from the water.<\/p>\n

The image above was taken from the northern most tip of Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> looking north to Shell Key. There was a sea fog that morning that was still hanging around in the trees on the key.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Skimmer skimming along north beach – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/320, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 230mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Black Skimmers<\/span><\/a> are the only bird species in the U.S. that has a larger lower mandible than the upper mandible. As they skim along they drag their lower bill in the water and when they sense prey their bill snaps shut over the prey.<\/p>\n

They are graceful, unique, colorful birds that fish during the day and night.<\/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":"

I haven’t seen Black Skimmers in over six years now but in my mind I can still hear them calling when I look at my images of a group of them in flight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156808,"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":[4004,3990,5229,5132,4700,4701,4620,4052,4247,4122,4077,4258,4699,4115,12848,4698,4697,5117,4248,2315,3996],"class_list":["post-31166","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-black-skimmer","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-conspiracy","tag-embezzlement","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flock","tag-flying","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-mangroves","tag-scoop","tag-sea-birds","tag-seabirds","tag-shell-key","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-skimming","tag-summer-3","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-86G","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":31166,"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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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmer in flight close up as it flew past me at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.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-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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":10970,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/22\/black-skimmers-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":31166,"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, 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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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