Rynchops niger
Silhouette: Daniel Nuñez-Leon · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The black skimmer (Rynchops niger) is a tern-like seabird, one of three similar bird species in the skimmer genus Rynchops in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North and South America. Northern populations winter in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the tropical and subtropical Pacific and Atlantic coasts, but South American populations make only shorter movements in response to annual floods which extend their feeding areas in the river shallows.
The black skimmer was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1755 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae and given the binomial name Rynchops niger. The genus name Rynchops is from the Ancient Greek ῥυvχος/rhunkhos meaning "bill" and κοπτω/koptō meaning "to cut off". The specific niger is the Latin word for "black". The black skimmer is one of three species in the genus Rynchops.
There are three subspecies: The black skimmer is the largest of the three skimmer species. It measures 40–50 cm (16–20 in) long with a 107–127 cm (42–50 in) wingspan. This species ranges from 212 to 447 g (7.5 to 15.8 oz), with males averaging about 349 g (12.3 oz), as compared to the smaller females 254... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 2 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 4 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 8 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black Skimmer sighting in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, based on 203 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 89th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and March
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Black Skimmer in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, against under 5% in May, July–August and October–December, the lowest months. Those are among Ciénaga de Zapata's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 150 mm in June. September has too few records to rate.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Skimmer sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 28
Of the 28 parks where we can rate Black Skimmer sightings, Ciénaga de Zapata ranks 5th at about 20%. The best odds are in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 60%), Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 50%) and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (United States, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Black Skimmer that you can see in Ciénaga de Zapata (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Royal Tern (about 40%), Caspian Tern (about 30%) and Laughing Gull (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Skimmer is recorded against all the birds logged in Ciénaga de Zapata (203 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
