Stylish Indian Skimmer

Happy monsoon to all lovely readers, thankfully monsoon arrived and hope it will be satisfactory at the end of the season. Lot many things depend on rain such as farming, the survival of human as well as living creatures, I mean birds and animals so I sincere request each and everyone to don’t wastewater and try to conserve to the best of your ability.

While thinking of river, one special bird strike to my mind, though I have referred it in past it was only for reference hence I decided to present this lovely bird with some more details in today’s topic, the unique bird is known as Indian Skimmer, let know more about it in the next section.  

The unique Story

I connected to this bird during my visit to National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary; though the place is well known for the conservation of Gharial, we should also note that this is a favorite place rather I should say this is one of the breeding ground of Indian Skimmer in India. I was completely unaware of this unique stuff; it was super surprise to watch this bird in its habitat. The bird is special because of a strange bill pattern, which helps Indian Skimmers to catch aquatic prey. It has short upper mandible and the longer lower mandible that is plowed along the surface of the water as the bird flies over the water to pick aquatic prey. 

It is not only just catching fish but also about the manner in which the same is eaten. When the bird encounters a fish, the lower mandible is raised up and snapped shut with an up and down movement of the head. Excess water is drained from the beak as the bird lifts itself back into the air. The mandible, therefore, efficiently separates fish and sea protein from the water. The fish is then either eaten in flight or on landing

Isn’t it unique! You will get a better idea when you visit the DSLR section, we were extremely lucky to capture such unique pictures. Now let us move to the next section to learn some wonderful facts of Indian Skimmer

The Facts File

The Indian skimmer is one of 3 species belonging to the skimmer family: Rynchopidae. The Skimmer gets its name from the specialized predatory hunting behavior involving its unique bill

They show remarkable aerobatic skills as the bill is maintained on a steady path through the surface of the water

The lower mandible is flexible and resembles a knife and is skimmed through the surface of the water, picking up aquatic prey while it flies. The upper mandible is capable of considerable flexibility

The Indian Skimmer can be found on coastal wetlands and lagoons, large, lowland rivers, lakes, marshes, swamps and estuaries and freshwater sources particularly during the breeding season

Indian skimmers feed upon surface-dwelling fish, however, they will also eat small crustaceans and insect larvae. Marine life and sea protein make up a large part of the Skimmer’s diet

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CONSERVATION STATUS

The Indian Skimmer is classed as ‘Vulnerable’ by the IUCN. It is threatened by loss of habitat and degradation, pollution and disturbance of lowland rivers and lakes. Most colonies are unprotected, however, some lie within nature reserves such as the National Chambal (Gharial) Wildlife Sanctuary in India. Active management has reduced key threats at some wetland sites. African Skimmers are also almost as threatened as the Indian Skimmer

A Message of the Day – 

Conserve water; conserve life because A drop of water is worth more than a sack of gold to a thirsty man

                                               BT Wild Art

                               DSLR world