ABC's Bird of the Week - Black Skimmer

Trouble viewing this email? View as a webpage here Bird of the Week Black Skimmer The Black Skimmer’s remarkable bill, with the lower part longer than the upper, is unique among U.S. birds. A feeding skimmer flies low over water with its beak open and partially submerged. When it touches a prey item, such as a small fish, the upper bill snaps down, securing the bird’s meal. Preferred habitats include sandy or gravelly bars and beaches, shallow bays, estuaries, and salt marsh pools. The Black Skimmer is a social bird, roosting and breeding in colonies of up to thousands of pairs, often alongside gulls and terns. Successful colonies usually occupy the same nest sites each year. Interestingly, this skimmer is somewhat crepuscular in its habits, feeding most actively at dawn and dusk. Major threats to this species are habitat loss due to coastal development and human disturbances during nesting. The Black Skimmer is also affected by threats to fish populations such as oil spills or chemical pollution. ABC is launching a five-state, Gulf Coast conservation effort to identify and implement protective measures for Black Skimmers and other vulnerable beach-nesting birds. These measures will include signage and fencing at colonies to reduce accidental nest destruction and abandonment. Learn more and help ABC conserve this and other waterbirds!   Photo: Black Skimmer by Alan Wilson; Range Map by NatureServe, 2007

Don't forget to join ABC on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and check out the ABC blog                      Plus... Free Ways to Help American Bird Conservancy Raise Much-Needed Funds: every time you shop at any of 700+ online stores in the iGive network, a portion of the money you spend benefits American Bird Conservancy. It's a free service, and you'll never pay more when you reach a store through iGive. In fact, smart shoppers will enjoy iGive's repository of coupons, free shipping deals, and sales. To get started, just create your free iGive account<. And when you search the web, do it through iSearchiGive.com where each search means a penny (or more!) for our cause! Start iGiving at: www.iGive.com/abcbirds & www.iSearchiGive.com/abcbirds

American Bird Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that conserves native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Click here to unsubscribe from BirdWire