Last year I had a lot of fun watching and photographing Black Skimmers. This juvenile bird was walking along the beach with the lower mandible plowing through sand. It's a start. :)
This is quite amazing Axel, and there are so many "just-so stories" as Stephen J. Gould called them, to explain what might be going on. Is it play/practice for the real thing or have you discovered a new feeding technique for the species? For the latter idea to work, there has to be something to eat in the sand- is there? What do you think is going on?
I think it is play/practice. He also played with a stick for no apparent reason other than entertaining himself. I also saw slightly older juveniles flying along the beach plowing through sand. I have images of both that I can post later.
There is nothing at all for them to eat in the sand. And perhaps more amazingly, I have, on several occasions in Cape May, NJ, seen the juvies skim the sand in flight! My vote, therefore, is for practice.
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This is a juvenile practicing in the sand. When there was some sort of resistance, a little rock or so, I also saw the reflex that closes the bill. This image is only supposed to demonstrate the behavior. :)
Skimming 101
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