himbo (noun): a dumb or naive man, who, despite looking like an asshole chad, is actually sweet, respectful, and kind. typically large, beefy, and relatively handsome, but friendly.
-via urban dictionary
i can’t help but call black skimmers “skimbos.”
black skimmers are a bird related to seagulls* and terns with a weirdly-shaped beak: it’s really thin, and the bottom mandible is longer than the top one. they’re a relatively frequent summertime sight in nyc, especially on the rockaway peninsula where they breed, in jamaica bay where they feed, and in coney island where they gather in large groups each fall while preparing to migrate. i saw a few recently at jamaica bay wildlife refuge’s east pond; the individual above made feeding trips up and down the pond’s edge, passing right in front of us several times in the dawn light.
everything about skimmers is kinda silly: they have a floppy, long-winged flight style when they’re not feeding, they have vertical slit pupils like cats, they sound like an arfing dog, and when they loaf around, they rest their big beaks directly in the sand, as below:
the goofiness isn’t without purpose, though. when they feed, they rip beak-first across the water’s surface like a hydrofoil, sailing forward with steady, graceful wing beats. when their beak encounters prey, they snap their heads forward and back to snatch it up. their slitted pupils are evolved to protect their eyes from the bright daytime light—they often feed during the night, and unlike most nigttime-feeding creatures which spend their days hiding, skimmmers are conspicuous beach loafers.
actually, i’ve heard that some summer evenings they’ll drop in to feed on prospect park’s lake at dusk. i haven’t encountered that yet, but it’s on my list of nyc nature to-dos.
black skimmers range across north and south america so they aren’t globally threatened, but they’re considered endangered, threatened, or a species of special concern across the US east coast. humans are directly causing black skimmer declines by disturbing beach colonies or developing land that the birds would otherwise breed on. people will even vandalize colonies, i’d guess because they see the birds as an impediment to their selfish enjoyment of the beach or to developing beachfront property. then, of course there’s sea level rise via climate change, which could swamp any remaining suitable habitat.
but with with signs and fencing designating their colonies, these birds can habituate to human presence so long as we’re not, like, driving offroad vehicles over them—after all, they feed in nyc parks.
we still have lots of skimmers around for now, and their presence makes every day beach birding better. worthy of the skimbo title, in my opinion.
* many birders will say “there’s no such thing as a ‘seagull’” because the accepted name of this group of birds is “gulls,” and some species like ring-billed gulls and herring gulls will breed far from the sea. first off, this is is certainly false, because the great black backed gull’s latin name, larus marinus, translates to “sea gull.” more importantly, all gulls have evolved seafaring attributes like webbed feet and the ability to drink saltwater. thus, all gulls are seagulls. this is my hill, and the more you try to correct me the deeper i will entrench myself.