Just a few weeks ago, a flock of more than two thousand Black Skimmers was spotted on a sandbar shoal in Mason Inlet at low tide. For biological technician Tara McIver, this was the largest number of birds she had ever seen in one place. But last week, there were only 100 Black Skimmers on that same shoal. The skimmers have left to migrate further south to Florida, the Caribbean and/or Central America. The skimmers that are still here will also migrate south for the winter; it’s just a matter of when. Skimmers are highly social birds that nest in large colonies and form large migrating flocks, which stage at North Carolina inlets after nesting is over. The bill of a Black Skimmer is most extraordinary and is used for a unique style of feeding. The large red and black bill is extremely thin and the lower bill is longer than the upper. The bird glides low over the water, dragging its lower bill through the water as it flies, in order to catch small fish.

A major threat to many of the Black Skimmer’s traditional nesting grounds are development and increased beach traffic. Even a slight disturbance in the colony reduces the rate of nesting success. The Black Skimmers will migrate back to North Carolina in the spring, at which time they will build nests, lay eggs and raise chicks. Hopefully the Black Skimmers will return to nest on the south end of Wrightsville Beach, where they had a very successful nesting season this year.