Mystery Bird

While walking on the beach yesterday, I saw a queer little bird I'd never seen before. He was black, with a white tummy, and short little red legs. The legs looked like they were not in the right place, like he was about to tip over. He had a long beak, and the bottom part was longer than the top. It had a bright red band on it, at the base.

Later in the day, I took my camera and set out to see if he was still nearby. Sure enough, he was waiting for me in about the same spot. So I took a few shots. People walking by asked what kind of bird he was. Seemed like other beach-goers were seeing him for the first time, too.

Back at the house, I did a little research. Turns out he is a black skimmer. And he looks like this:

The video above shows the black skimmer family. It'll be fun to look for these critters on future beach walks.

Speaking of beach walks, the shelling here is not great, but we seem to find one little treasure every day. Today, it was green beach glass. Yesterday, the skimmer! Back to reality in a few days...Gotta run! So much to do, so little time...