Rynchops niger
Silhouette: Daniel Nuñez-Leon · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Skimmer sighting in San Diego on a given day, based on 3,596 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 93rd most-seen of the 386 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black Skimmer in San Diego on a given day, against under 5% in March and September–December, the lowest months. Those are among San Diego's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain a month against 55 mm in February.
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.
4th of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate Black Skimmer sightings, San Diego ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Lima (Peru, about 20%), São Luís (Brazil, about 10%) and Havana (Cuba, about 10%).
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Black Skimmer that you can see in San Diego (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Western Gull (about 60%), Royal Tern (about 20%) and Ring-billed Gull (about 20%), 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 San Diego (3,596 verified sightings), 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.
