Skimmer

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Skimmers
Black Skimmer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Rhynchopidae Bonaparte, 1838 Genus: Rhynchops Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Black Skimmer (Rhynchops niger) African Skimmer (Rhynchops flavirostris) Indian Skimmer (Rhynchops albicollis)

For other uses, see Skimmer (disambiguation).

The Skimmers are a small family of tern-like birds in the order Charadriiformes, which also includes the waders, gulls and auks.

The three species have an elongated lower mandible. They feed by flying low over the water surface with the lower mandible skimming the water for small fish.

They are tropical species which lay 3-6 eggs on sandy beaches. The female incubates the eggs.

See Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy for an alternative classification. The genus name Rhynchops is sometimes spelled Rhyncops (also due to Linnaeus).

African Skimmers in Uganda.

[edit] External links

• Skimmer videos on the Internet Bird Collection