A wing tip lightly on the surface and a nice display of that unique beak.

Black Skimmer
It took about 5 miles and later in the day to catch some Black Simmers in clear water with sun light. Which should not have been that hard in South Carolina.
I went from full out marshland to old rice fields. Also the birds broke rules and were feeding mid day, not in the morning. Things worked out well.
Now the Black Skimmers are in a place a little more photographer friendly. Well, there’s the Alligators who love clean rice fields too. But the Skimmers are OK with it, so I am too.
I’ve never had an opportunity with Skimmers like this morning last week. It was hard to know where to focus, especially since they were all at top speed.
Above, the Skimmers were fishing in large groups flying down the center of the pooling marsh waters.
Keeping focus was made even more difficult since they were spraying water all around and over each other.
The fish being caught were small but there was a large number. They all seemed to be catching one at some point.
What was just as amazing was we moved on to several other areas, each had flocks of Skimmers.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
I guess even Black Skimmers need to take a break once in a while.
This first photo shows their unique bill clearly.
The only time I see them resting like this is in a large group. These two didn’t even bother to join the others. Maybe it was too crowded for even them. Lots of Skimmers around.
A few shots taken as Black Skimmers worked a marsh pool near me.
These photographs were at the far end of the shallows. I had the idea of getting the Skimmers as they did their wide turns to make another pass over the surface.
The last two shots I finally was getting the flight directions right. This bird also had a small fish.
I discovered my best option was to keep a little more distance between me and the waters edge. These birds are much too fast.
Shooting wider, which requires more space, is the only way to keep up with them. I think a 100-400 would have been a better lens choice too. A bigger lens is like swinging around a couch 🤣🤣 LOL. You can’t do it for very long (if at all).