Rynchops

Tomkins (1963) wrote of his surprise on learning that Royal terns Thalasseus maximus and Caspian terns Hydroprogne caspia are both capable of skimming behaviour, even though they lack the many unusual features present in Rynchops.

Archive 2006-04-01 Darren Naish 2006

While azhdarchids may well have been skilled at fast, level flight (as is Rynchops), this lifestyle does not explain the probably proficient terrestrial abilities present in azhdarchids.

Archive 2006-04-01 Darren Naish 2006

Method of feeding of the Black skimmer Rynchops nigra.

Archive 2006-04-01 Darren Naish 2006

Describing the Asian azhdarchid Azhdarcho, Nesov (1984) was the first to propose a radically different hypothesis: that these pterosaurs might have behaved like Rynchops, the skimmers.

Archive 2006-04-01 Darren Naish 2006

Structural adaptations of the head and neck in the black skimmer Rynchops nigra Linneaus.

Archive 2006-04-01 Darren Naish 2006

Leonero is also a key point for the observation of migratory species like the Black skimmer (Rynchops niger), Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) and Peregrin (Falco peregrinus) that arrive in numbers hard to equal in other reserves of the archipelago.

Cuban wetlands 2007

Other birds of global concern include the great snipe (Gallinago media), which is a Palearctic migrant, the African skimmer (Rynchops flavirostris), an intra-African migrant breeder whose major population is found in the Zambezi basin, and the lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor).

Zambezian coastal flooded savanna 2007

***** Rynchops niger, the shearwater or razor bill.

Travels Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws; Containing An Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. 1823

_Larus_; many thousands of _Rynchops nigra_, which were so numerous as to appear like clouds when they rose into the air; a _Procellaria_ of the variety _Nectris_; two kinds of _Podiceps_, and an _Aptenodytes_ of the variety _Spheniscus_.

A New Voyage Round the World, in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26, Vol. 2 Otto von Kotzebue 1816

More importantly, there is nothing in the azhdarchid skull showing that it was streamlined and laterally compressed as required for this hypothesis, nor is there any indication that the jaw joint or back of the skull was built to withstand jarring impacts, nor that the upper jaw could be elevated relative to water level, nor that the jaws were capable of rapid closure, as is the case in Rynchops (Tomkins 1951, Bock 1960, 1964, Zusi 1962).

Archive 2006-04-01 Darren Naish 2006