Walking along the side of a windswept sand dune at Mavillette Beach on Saturday morning, apparently dazed and confused, was a rare bird.
The dominant feature of this black and white visitor was a slender, two-tone red and black needle-sharp bill some 10 centimetres in length.
He didn't want to fly until someone came a little too close and forced him to lift off and circle around, only to land a few metres away.
Most agree the bird is a black skimmer, likely exhausted after being blown to Digby County from Florida or the Carolinas, where the birds would be breeding just about now.
The bottom of a black skimmer's beak is longer than the top, says the All About Birds website. The bird will skim low over the water with its beak open, hoping to trap small fish, according to the site, operated by Cornell University.
No comments:
Post a Comment