Rynchops niger
Silhouette: Daniel Nuñez-Leon · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Skimmer sighting in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 267th most-seen of the 348 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Skimmer in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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.
23rd of 28
Of the 28 parks where we can rate Black Skimmer sightings, Tortuguero National Park ranks 23rd at under 5%. 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 Tortuguero National Park (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Royal Tern (about 10%) and Laughing Gull (about 10%), 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 Tortuguero National Park (27 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.
