The African skimmer (''Rynchops flavirostris'') is a species of bird belonging to the
skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the family Laridae. It is found along rivers, lakes and lagoons in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
.
Description
African skimmers have long wings, with a black back, hindneck, and crown. The forehead and rest of the body is white, with a bright, long, orange beak that ends with a yellow tip (black tip when immature), hence the specific name ''flavirostris'', "yellow-beak." Their short forked tail is white, and their legs are bright red. The average size is about long. Their voice is a sharp "kip-kip". Their bill structure is unique; the lower mandible is much longer than the upper mandible, and is flattened sideways like scissor blades.
Distribution and habitat
The African skimmer is found from
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 井仆井內丐中五 (Senegaali); Arabic: 塈堻媞塈 ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''R矇ewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 井仆不丐仆不五 ...
to northern
Congo River
The Congo River ( kg, Nz璽di K繫ngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...
and southern
Nile Valley
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: man Daw贖 is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
, southern
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
to the
Zambezi Valley
The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...
, and then to
KwaZulu-Natal Province
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locat ...
(South Africa) and
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
. They live at large tropical rivers with sandbanks for nesting and roosting, lake shores, and coastal lagoons. The African skimmer is generally uncommon and the total populations is estimated at 15,00025,000 individuals.
[
]
Behavior
African skimmers fly in lines over calm waters, and dip their lower mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...
s in the water to feed. When the mandible touches a fish, the skimmer snaps its mouth shut. They feed mostly at dawn and dusk and have good night vision. The following fish have been recorded as prey for African skimmers: ''Micralestes
''Micralestes'' is a genus of African tetras. There are currently 17 species in this genus.
Species
* '' Micralestes acutidens'' ( W. K. H. Peters, 1852) (Sharptooth tetra)
* '' Micralestes ambiguus'' G矇ry, 1995
* '' Micralestes argyrotaen ...
'', ''Tilapia
Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...
'', ''Barbus
''Barbus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. The type species of ''Barbus'' is the common barbel, first described as ''Cyprinus barbus'' and now named ''Barbus barbus''. ''Barbus'' is the namesake genus of the subfamily B ...
'', ''Marcusenius
''Marcusenius'' is a genus of the elephantfish group native to Africa. Its members are highly diverse in size, with the smallest species reaching less than and the largest more than .
The genus is named after Johann Marcusen.
Species
There ...
'', ''Hepsetus
''Hepsetus'' is a genus of African fishes, the African pikes or African pike characins, in the order Characiformes. It is the sole genus in the family Hepsetidae. It was long believed that only a single widespread species existed, ''H. odoe'', b ...
'', ''Aplocheilichthys
The banded lampeye (''Aplocheilichthys spilauchen'') is a species of poeciliid that is native to Africa, ranging from Senegal to Angola. It is mainly found in coastal brackish habitats (only infrequently in pure fresh or salt water) such as river ...
'' and ''Petrocephalus
''Petrocephalus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Mormyridae. All the fish species of this genus are endemic to Africa.
Species
There are currently 46 recognized species in this genus:
* '' Petrocephalus ansorgii'' Boulenger 1903 ( ...
''.
Reproduction
African skimmers nest in loose colonies on large sandbanks. The colonies typically consist of less than 50 pairs and each pair lays 23 (rarely 4) eggs in a scrape in the sand. Sometimes African skimmer colonies are mixed with those of other sand bank nesting birds such as collared pratincole
The collared pratincole (''Glareola pratincola''), also known as the common pratincole or red-winged pratincole, is a wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae. As with other pratincoles, it is native to the Old World.
Taxonomy
The collared pr ...
, pied avocet
The pied avocet (''Recurvirostra avosetta'') is a large black and white wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae. They breed in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to Central Asia then on to the Russian Far East. It is a mig ...
and white-fronted plover
The white-fronted plover or white-fronted sandplover (''Charadrius marginatus'') is a small (45-50 g) shorebird of the family Charadriidae that inhabits sandy beaches, dunes, mudflats and the shores of rivers and lakes in sub-saharan Africa and M ...
.[
]
Movements
African skimmers are partial intra-African migrants, they arrive in southern Africa when the water level of rivers starts falling at the beginning of the dry season, i.e. AprilJune, returning northwards after breeding when rivers start rising again at the start of the rainy season in NovemberJanuary.[
]
References
External links
* African skimmer
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18766
African skimmer
The African skimmer (''Rynchops flavirostris'') is a species of bird belonging to the skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the family Laridae. It is found along rivers, lakes and lagoons in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
African skimmers have long w ...
African skimmer
The African skimmer (''Rynchops flavirostris'') is a species of bird belonging to the skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the family Laridae. It is found along rivers, lakes and lagoons in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
African skimmers have long w ...
African skimmer
The African skimmer (''Rynchops flavirostris'') is a species of bird belonging to the skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the family Laridae. It is found along rivers, lakes and lagoons in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
African skimmers have long w ...
African skimmer
The African skimmer (''Rynchops flavirostris'') is a species of bird belonging to the skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the family Laridae. It is found along rivers, lakes and lagoons in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
African skimmers have long w ...
African skimmer
The African skimmer (''Rynchops flavirostris'') is a species of bird belonging to the skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the family Laridae. It is found along rivers, lakes and lagoons in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
African skimmers have long w ...