The Skimmers made us earn every opportunity for a shot. This marsh is a series of high reeds and canals. A maze of reeds and water.

The grasses are now twice as tall as I am, thick, and not someplace a person is going to, or want to, push through.

We worked at whatever openings we found that gave us a semi clear field of vision.

Above is the shot we hope to get. When a Skimmer grabs something from the surface their head is pushed down, closing their beak on the prey. Never have I seen one flip over, though I don’t know why.

Plenty of heat and insects (today was ticks and red bugs, ughh) making this a half day of work.
Impressive photos Ted!
I’ve just linked to this post from a retweet I did on Twitter. The retweet shows a young black skimmer’s head and bill very closeup and I linked here so that anyone who’s interested can see how they feed. https://twitter.com/ExploringColour/status/1312117959171555328
Thanks Miss Liz 🙂