{"id":43290,"date":"2016-11-29T05:33:46","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T12:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=43290"},"modified":"2025-09-19T06:30:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:30:33","slug":"courting-black-skimmers-on-north-beach-fort-de-soto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/29\/courting-black-skimmers-on-north-beach-fort-de-soto\/","title":{"rendered":"Courting Black Skimmers on North Beach, Fort De Soto"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CourtingCourting Black Skimmers – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 280mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On a hazy, windy day in May of 2008 I was able to sand crawl on my belly close enough to some Black Skimmers to watch and photograph them courting.<\/p>\n

The strong wind blew the stinging sand onto my skin but the skimmers seemed to ignore it and they also seemed to ignore me.<\/p>\n

I was mostly hidden by a small sand dune which may have helped to put the skimmers at ease.<\/p>\n

Most Black Skimmer copulations occur at night so seeing this pre-copulatory display during the day was a treat.<\/p>\n

Typically the male brings a fish to the female and then the female crouches to signal to the male that she is receptive. I didn’t see the male bring in a fish to this female but I had been photographing other skimmers that were near by so I may have missed that.<\/p>\n

Although this female Black Skimmer<\/span><\/a> signaled that she was receptive one of the other nearby skimmers interrupted this pair and they did not mate while I photographed them.<\/p>\n

Even though I wasn’t able to photograph this pair mating I was happy to have recorded even this much of their courtship display.<\/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":"

On a hazy, windy day in May of 2008 I was able to sand crawl on my belly close enough to some Black Skimmers to watch and photograph them courting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156803,"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":[4039,3990,4053,5229,5132,2498,2419,3535,2158,4070,4062,4348,5534,4211,4017,4697,5117,4018,165],"class_list":["post-43290","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-beach","tag-black-skimmer","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-courting","tag-courtship","tag-courtship-behavior","tag-courtship-display","tag-female","tag-male","tag-mating-display","tag-pre-copulatory-display","tag-rynchops-niger","tag-sand","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-sky","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-pair-mia-mcpherson-8166.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bge","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14837,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/26\/black-skimmers-at-fort-de-soto-five-years-ago-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":43290,"position":0},"title":"Black Skimmers at Fort De Soto Five Years Ago Today","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "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, 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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, 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