Species profile
About the african skimmer
The African skimmer feeds like no other African bird. It flies low and straight along a calm river with its elongated lower mandible cutting the surface, and the bill snaps shut the instant it touches a fish. Watching a party skim the Rufiji at dusk, leaving twin wakes in the still water, is unforgettable.
It is black above and white below with a long orange bill tipped yellow, and it nests in scrapes on exposed sandbars. Dam-regulated flows and disturbance of sandbanks have made it Near Threatened; Nyerere National Park is its Tanzanian stronghold.
Life in the wild
Behavior & relationships
Behavior
Skims mainly at dawn, dusk and by night, when fish rise. Rests in tight flocks on sandbars through the heat of the day.
Social life
Gregarious. Nests in colonies on river sandbars and feeds in loose parties along the same reach of water.
What makes it remarkable
Special features
A lower mandible longer than the upper — unique among African birds — and vertical-slit pupils that cut glare off the water.
