Bird
Black Skimmer
Rynchops niger
Lives in Alabama all year and nests here. Found in 2 of 67 counties, across 5 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 2 of 67 counties
- Habitats
- 5

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 2 of 67 counties
- Habitats
- 5
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 5
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Other habitats in its models (20)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter.
- Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
Seasons in Alabama
- Year-round: nests here, in 2 of 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 39
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food.
- Groundsel-treeBaccharis halimifolia
- Woody GoldenrodChrysoma pauciflosculosa
- Yaupon HollyIlex vomitoria
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Panicum amarum var. amarulumPanicum amarum var. amarulum
- Sand Live OakQuercus geminata
- Live OakQuercus virginiana
- Gulf BluestemSchizachyrium maritimum
- Serenoa repensSerenoa repens
- Shoreline Sea-purslaneSesuvium portulacastrum
- Saltmeadow CordgrassSporobolus pumilus
- Seashore DropseedSporobolus virginicus
- Sea OatsUniola paniculata
- Gulf Coast Sea RocketCakile constricta
- Ceratiola ericoidesCeratiola ericoides
- Godfrey's Golden AsterChrysopsis godfreyi
- False RosemaryConradina canescens
- Coastal Sand FrostweedCrocanthemum arenicola
- Wright's WitchgrassDichanthelium wrightianum
- Seashore SaltgrassDistichlis spicata
- Fuirena scirpoideaFuirena scirpoidea
- Littleleaf MilkpeaGalactia microphylla
- Largeleaf PennywortHydrocotyle bonariensis
Wildlife 166
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Alabama. Not sighting records.
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
- Royal TernThalasseus maximus
- Semipalmated PloverCharadrius semipalmatus
- Snow GooseChen caerulescens
- Tricolored HeronEgretta tricolor
- WilletTringa semipalmata
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Brewer's BlackbirdEuphagus cyanocephalus
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Double-crested CormorantPhalacrocorax auritus
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Gray KingbirdTyrannus dominicensis
- KilldeerCharadrius vociferus
- King RailRallus elegans
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Marsh WrenCistothorus palustris
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Palm WarblerDendroica palmarum
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Black Skimmer Brackish or salt water only
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)





































