Date: June 25, 2013
Camera: Nikon D 7100
Lens: Nikon Nikkor 600 mm f-4
Exposure: 1/500 sec., f-5.6, ISO 400, Aperture Priority w/ Exposure Comp. = 0.7
Processing: Camera Raw, Photoshop, NIK Vivenza 2, Cloned out some debris in water, Not Cropped

The late afternoon conditions became perfect at Fowler Beach, DE, in the north section of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge on the Delaware Bay: clear blue skies; low, bright sun from the rear; still wind and reflective water; plus, most importantly, Black Skimmers feeding. These highly-specialized birds are summertime seasonal migrants to the Mid-Atlantic from as far away as South America. With their long wings and knife-blade beak, they skim over the water at astonishingly high speed trying to contact aquatic life with their lower beak slicing through the water. How do they keep from breaking their necks when they contact something, such as a submerged branch? Answer: They reflexively and instantaneously drop their head so the beak points backward as it snaps shut on the prey, or more often not-prey. It is a low probability feeding strategy, but spectacular to watch.