The Story
I photographed this Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) near La Macarena, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. Its lower mandible is much longer than the upper, and the basal half of the bill is red. Its eye has a catlike vertical pupil, unique for a bird. It breeds in loose groups on sandbanks and sandy beaches, and both parents incubate three to seven heavily blotched eggs. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/1500 sec, f/16, ISO 1600, −1 EV. La Macarena National Park traces its origins to the La Macarena Biological Reserve of 1948 and today covers 629,280 hectares of humid forest, flooded forest, scrub and Amazonian savanna.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) belongs to the family Laridae (Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025). Source: IUCN Red List
