{"id":9399,"date":"2013-09-06T04:46:47","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T10:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9399"},"modified":"2025-09-18T18:46:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:46:23","slug":"landing-black-skimmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/06\/landing-black-skimmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Landing Black Skimmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LandingLanding Black Skimmer – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1500, ISO 250, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

They are also called flying beagle and sea-dog because of the yipping sound they make that can sound like a small dog<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

I photographed this landing Black Skimmer at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park as it came into for a landing near a resting flock of skimmers, I was fortunate that it landed far enough away from them to be able to isolate the skimmer from the rest of the birds.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156740,"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":[4004,4039,3990,4053,14752,4052,173,4123,4211,4017,4697,5117,165],"class_list":["post-9399","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-beach","tag-black-skimmer","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-coastal-island","tag-flight","tag-gulf-coast","tag-landing","tag-rynchops-niger","tag-sand","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-landing-mia-mcpherson-7811.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2rB","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":9399,"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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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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Pinellas County, 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":47399,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/21\/gulf-shore-black-skimmer-skimming\/","url_meta":{"origin":9399,"position":4},"title":"Gulf Shore Black Skimmer Skimming","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Black Skimmers forage by skimming their bills in the waves just off shore and snap up fish when their sensitive bills locate them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gulf shore Black Skimmer foraging at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-skimming-mia-mcpherson-4387.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-skimming-mia-mcpherson-4387.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-skimming-mia-mcpherson-4387.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-skimming-mia-mcpherson-4387.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14837,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/26\/black-skimmers-at-fort-de-soto-five-years-ago-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":9399,"position":5},"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, 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