Get a Close-up of Skimmer Hatchlings Through the Lens of our Beach Bird Stewards

Currently, on the South End of Wrightsville Beach, tiny gray and white downy Black Skimmer chicks with long legs and thick beaks have just hatched. With temperatures soaring, it’s more important than ever to share the shore. 

The 4-acre sanctuary regularly hosts the largest colony of Black Skimmers in the state, but it’s also heavily visited by beachgoers, making it an important site to monitor and manage for their use.

Black Skimmer chicks camouflage with the sand to allow them to lay flat on the beach and hide from predators. Their upper and lower mandibles are the same length at first, so they’re able to pick up food dropped on the ground by their parents. Young wander around the vicinity of the nest after a few days. It will be another 23-25 days before they are able to fly. 

Not only do parents protect and watch over chicks, so too do our dedicated Wrightsville Beach Bird Stewards. This year, 75 bird stewards are monitoring the posting every day to ensure these birds have the space they need to raise young.  

Here are some photos from this month at the sanctuary. If you’d like to get a closer look at our nesting birds in the company of an expert, free, guided bird walks begin in May and occur every Monday morning at 9 am until August 15 on the south end of Wrightsville Beach. 

Common Tern chicks have also hatched and are being cared for by their parents. Chicks will often wander close to the water to cool off, so be sure to give them space in and out of the posting.