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These odd-looking but graceful birds, with their black-and-white plumage and huge red bills with very long lower mandibles, are oversided terns. They have long wings and an elegant, lilting flight, dragging their lower mandibles through the surface to snap up small fish. Often this is done in surprisingly shallow water, as in some of these images. These skimmers were fishing the waters of Bolsa Chica estuary in coastal Orange County, California, and in southern Florida. Several of these photos clearly show the very large lower mandible as they fly past the camera. Some of the birds are carrying small fish back to their nest (these fish seem proportionally tiny compared to some of the fish that Caspian terns sometimes catch). I took some of these photos skimmers on an overcast spring day, which made it easier to avoid too much contrast between the black and white parts of the plumage. One photo -- the group of six birds -- was shot with flash before dawn.
Pictures of resting skimmers are on this page.
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