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The three species of Skimmers, the Rynchopinae, form a small unusual family of sea birds. Charadriiformes, their order, also includes waders, gulls, and auks. Skimmers have a lower mandible (half of the bill) that is longer than the upper, and both mandibles are flattened until they resemble the blades of a scissors. These birds hunt by flying low over the water, with their bill agape to snag small fish. They are also the only species of bird with slit pupils, like those of cats.

Skimmers usually hunt at dawn and dusk, that is, they are
crepuscular. They are also able to fish at night (nocturnally) because they hunt by touch, snapping their upper mandible down when the lower one encounters fish or crustaceans. Their skimming method, the narrow mandible which cuts cleanly through the water, and the slit pupils which quickly adapt to low light, fit them to hunt at the hours when schools of fish rise to feed.

On tropic or sub tropic beaches, lakeshores, or bars, the female skimmer lays three to six eggs in a hollow (the "scrape") which she creates by turning around repeatedly in the sand.

The striking Indian Skimmer, Rynchops albicollis, is classed as a vulnerable species. It is in trouble from habitat destruction, changes in water levels, and pollution. It is black on top, with a white forehead, face, breast and underside. Its bill is deep orange with a yellow tip, and the lower mandible is longer than the upper as in all the Skimmers. The coloring of the juvenile is much less vivid. These birds used to be common across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, but their range is now only parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Still, on peaceful riversides, colonies of up to 40 breeding pairs come together from March to May and fill their scrapes with three to five streaked and blotched eggs with a base color of buff to white.

The Black Skimmer, Rynchops niger, is the Skimmer of the Americas, with a range from Massachusetts to South America. This species has a clutch of three to five blotched buff or bluish eggs, hard to see in the debris of a beach, which are incubated by both parents for about three weeks. The young chicks shelter in the parental scrape but soon dig their own. They are fed by both parents with regurgitated fish and shellfish. The entire colony often flies away at once to hunt, leaving the dull colored young on the beach until their return.

Adult Black skimmers are very colorful. They are about seventeen inches long, and both genders look the

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