Black SkimmerBlack skimmer with a mullet (sp?) as food for its nearby chick Skimmers are fun seabirds to photograph and I am fortunate to have a colony of skimmers near my home.   Morning and evening feedings of chicks are quite common to see. In this case, it's a mullet.  It could be a striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) or white mullet (Mugil curema).  They are very hard to distinguish when this size and both species occur in the estuary near this colony. From many hours of observation and photographs showing adult skimmers carrying fish, they feed on a wide variety of fishes, but mullet are common.

Adult skimmers are uniquely adapted to forage in low light of the early morning or evening, and even at night.  Their eyes are unique in the bird world.  Their pupils narrow to vertical slits, similar to a cat, which helps to protect their eyes during the harsh light of a bright sandy, summer beach and it aids in foraging at low light or night.