Indian Skimmer

The Indian skimmer, or Indian scissors-bill, is one of three species of skimmer. It is tern-like but has a short upper mandible and a longer lower mandible, which it ploughs along the water surface as it flies to catch aquatic prey. It is about 40–43 cm long with a wingspan of 108 cm, and very brightly marked in black, white and orange: a black cap and orange bill against a white body with dark upperparts, white forehead and nape, and red legs and feet. Young birds have normal-looking bills, and the lower mandible grows with age (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its last strongholds are in India and Bangladesh. It has a high, nasal, screaming kyap-kyap call but is usually silent, and is most common on fresh water, especially in the breeding season, when it nests in colonies on islands or sandy spits, usually in rivers, where sandbanks are also important for gharials. It lays three to five buff or white eggs blotched and streaked with brown, and may lay some in river terns' nests. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority, with a Restricted range of about 42,000 km² and a current decline of about 4% a year (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).