ML65717921
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult, Unknown sex - X
Media notes
This adult Black Skimmer was found earlier in the day, apparently by Don Glasco, and photographed here by Curtis A. Marantz on 27 July 2017 as it skimmed the surface of the northern channel of Elkhorn Slough east of Jetty Road, Moss Landing, Monterey County, California.
Observation details
I thought I saw the continuing skimmer almost immediately after I began scanning the flats opposite the boat ramp; however, it vanished before I could get a scope on it and we then spent quite some time trying to relocate this bird before it again appeared on the flats near where I initially thought I had seen it. In the hope of getting better views of this bird we drove over to the west side of the channel, where we arrived to find Bill Hill and another observer looking at the skimmer as it stood on the flats. We then spent the next half-hour or so observing this bird and taking photos both as it stood on the beach and as it flew back-and-forth skimming the surface of the channel just beyond the flats. This was a large, tern-like bird that had a rather massive bill on which the lower mandible extended beyond the upper to impart a unique appearance. Also apparent was that the bill was long and that it tapered to a relatively slim tip with the upper mandible falling short of the lower to create a stepped appearance along the upper edge of the bill. The head was unremarkable in size, yet I noted little in the way of a forehead, a rather flattened crown, and a stout neck, which resulted in the head merging with a body that had a front-heavy appearance that was accentuated by long wings that tapered to pointed tips that appeared to extend well beyond a short tail. The legs were relatively short and unremarkable in their mass. This bird had a graceful flight given deep wing-beats on wings that were long, relatively slim, and with pointed tips. The head and especially the bill extended conspicuously forward of the leading edges of the wings, but the relatively short tail did not extend far beyond their trailing edges, and given that the tail was typically held tightly closed, it appeared relatively slim. This bird’s plumage patterns represented a striking contrast between black and white. The forehead, the lower part of the face, and the underparts from the throat down across the breast, belly, sides, flanks, and undertail coverts were snow-white and unmarked. The underwing coverts were also white, but I am less sure about the undersides of the remiges. I also noted that the tail was mostly white when spread, but when closed, the uppertail coverts and probably also the central rectrices were black. Also black was the crown, nape, back and sides of the neck, and almost the entirety of the back, scapulars, upperwings, and rump. The demarcation between black and white on the face and along the sides of the neck was a sharp one along its entire extent. I noticed a narrow, white band along the trailing edge of each wing, but little or no additional contrast to the upperparts. The bill was a rich, orange color basally, but the orange merged abruptly with the black that covered the distal half to two-thirds of the bill. The eyes were dark, but I was unable to discern their color more precisely even though I noted clearly that they were located in the black region of the face. The legs were again bright orange, but I cannot now recall seeing the feet clearly, or at least if I did, I cannot recall any details about their color or even if they were webbed.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D Mark II
- Lens
- EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
- ISO
- 500
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/8.0
- Shutter speed
- 1/1250 sec
- Dimensions
- 2689 pixels x 1776 pixels
- Original file size
- 904.44 KB