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The Black Skimmer in California: an Overview

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The Black Skimmer in California: an Overview THE BLACK SKIMMER IN CALIFORNIA: AN OVERVIEW CHARLEST. COLLINS, Departmentof BiologicalSciences, California State Univer- sity,Long Beach,California 90840 KIMBALL L. GARRE'FESection of Vertebrates.Natural History Museum of Los AngelesCounty, 900 ExpositionBlvd., Los Angeles. California 90007 Althoughmany avian speciesin westernNorth Americahave suffered recentpopulation declines, a few have increasedover the sameperiod of time (Jehl and Johnson1994). Many of the increases,such as parrots' (Psittacidae),can be attributedstrictly to anthropogenicinfluences (Johnston and Garrett 1994). Among thosespecies showing apparent natural popula- tion increasesin Californiais the BlackSkimmer (Rynchops niger), which first occurredin the state in 1962 (Small 1963, 1994) and is now a resident breederwith a populationin 1995 of about 1200 pairs. Recentstudies in this region have documentedits nocturnalactivity pattern in the breeding season (Wilson 1995) and winter (Gazzaniga1995, de la Cueva and Fern/•ndez1996), food habits(Wilson 1995), and pattern of chick growth (Schewand Collins 1990, 1991). In this paper we review the statusof the Black Skimmer in California with emphasison the size and locationof breeding colonies and overwintering aggregations(Figure 1). We also includea list of museumspecimens of Black Skimmerstaken in California (Appendix). The first Black Skimmer recordedin Californiawas a singleindividual observedat the mouth of the Santa Ana River in coastalOrange County on 8 September1962 (Small1963). The realinvasion began 6 yearslater with the sightingof five skimmerson the Salton Sea at the mouth of the WhitewaterRiver, Riverside County, on 3 July 1968 (McCaskieand Suffel 1971) and the discoveryof five nestsat the southend of the SaltonSea in 1972 (McCaskieet al. 1974). Although the skimmer populationsat the SaltonSea havefluctuated since then, approximately487 pairsbred there in 1995 (Molina 1996; Table 1). Skimmers spread to the Pacific coast beginningin 1971 and bred in southSan Diego Bay in 1976 (Unitt 1984). They spreadnorthward in the ensuingyears as regularsummer visitors and occasionalsmall overwintering groups (Unitt 1984, L. Hays pers. comm.) beforeestablishing a breedingcolony at the BolsaChica Ecological Reserve, OrangeCounty, in 1985 (McCaskie1985, Collinset al. 1991, L. Hays and D. Yparraguerrepers. comm.) and Upper NewportBay Ecological Reserve, Orange County,in 1986 (McCaskie1986). Thesetwo coloniesnow each supportan annualbreeding population of greaterthan 200 paris(Table 1). The increasein the breedingrange of the BlackSkimmer has continued with the documentationof breedingon San FranciscoBay in 1994 and 1995 (Layneet al. 1996) and the formationof a new colonyat BatiquitosLagoon in northernSan Diego Countyin 1995 (Whelchelet al. 1996) (Figure1). A singlepair nestedat an inlandsite in the Tulare Lake basin,Kings County, in 1986 (Ericksonet al. 1986, Small 1994); four birdsappeared at this site againin 1993 butapparently did not nest(Yee et al. 1993). Six pairsbred at Western Birds 27:127-135, 1996 127 BLACK SKIMMER IN CALIFORNIA theSeal Beach National Wildlife Refuge in AnaheimBay, Orange County, in 1987 (McCaskie1987, B. Masseypers. comm.). Documentationof colonysizes has varied in detailfrom year to year.In California,Black Skimmers have a prolongedbreeding season lasting well into Augustand September in someyears (Grant and Hogg 1976, Schew andCollins 1991, Stadtlander1994, Konecny1995, Molina1996), andat leastsome but not all (Collinspers. obs.)of the late-seasonnests are the resultof renesting.However, no detailed information on the rate of renesting isavailable. Thus, an exactcount of the numberof nestingpairs at eachsite ß Breeding Sites e Imp.o.rtant.. winter sites View ß Tulare L. Barbara Lo..ng.Beach/ Chica ,•eal Bati½ Mission Bay San Diego Ba Montague I. Ensenada/ Punta Banda SanQuintin• Figure1. Breedingcolony sites (filled circles) and important winter concentration sites (hatchedcircles) of the BlackSkimmer in Californiaand northernBaja California. 128 BLACK SKIMMER IN CALIFORNIA is usuallynot possible,and only crudeestimates have been reported.We regardthe numberof nestsinitiated as the most consistentyear-to-year indexof the sizeof the skimmers'breeding population, even thoughit will Table ! Number of Pairs or Nest Initiations(*) by Black Skimmers in California Breeding Colonies 1972-1995 Year 1972 5 1973 3 1974 10 1975 9 1976 25 1 1977 100 3 1978 100 6 1979 ND f 14 1980 0 30 1981 0 25 1982 0 35 1983 0 50 1984 0 ++g 1985 47 150 10' 1986 300 130 60* 2 1987 500 ++ 106' ND 1988 100 200 150' 15 1989 0 ++ 112' 45 1990 100 ++ 338* 14 1991 80 >157 h 398* 40 1992 100 ++ 278* ++ 1993 300 326 284* ++ (473*) 1994 450 310 353* ++ 2* (420') 1995 487 >200 h 201' 451' 2* 14' ødata from Molina (1996). bdatafrom H. R. Carter et al. (unpubl.data), Stadtlander (1994), Konecny(1995), and F. Schaffner,E. Copper,and D. Stadtlander (pers.comm.). CDatafrom E. Burkett,L. Hays, K. Gazzaniga,and M. Taylor(pers. comm.). dDatafrom Layne et al. (1996). eData from Whelchel et al. (1996). )'ND, no data available. •++, birdsseen, possibly in largenumbers, but no nest-censusdata available. hMinimalcount; entire colony not censused. 129 BLACK SKIMMER IN CALIFORNIA almostcertainly exceed the actualnumber of breedingpairs by an amount yet to be determined.This is the value,when known, listedin Table 1. The breedingpopulation of skimmersat the Salton Sea has shownthe mostdramatic fluctuations, with more than 100 nestsreported by 1977, few if anynests from 1980 to 1983, anda reboundto a highof over500 nests in 1987 (Molina 1996, Table 1). Most of the coastalcolonies have shown a nearly steadyyear-to-year increase in numbersof nestswith occasional spurtssuch as that noted at BolsaChica, from 112 nestsin 1989 to 338 in 1990 (Table 1). The statusof the BlackSkimmer in adjacentBaja California, Mexico, has been summarizedby Palaciosand Alfaro (1992). Skimmershave been recordedregularly in BajaCalifornia since 1979 (Wilbur1987) andare now "considereda locallycommon bird on the northwesterncoast of Baja California,not only in winterbut year round"(Palacios and Alfaro 1992). There havealso been winter and breeding-seasonrecords of skimmersin BajaCalifornia Sur since1985,(Palacios and Alfaro 1992, Carmonaet al. 1995). The onlyknown Baja California breeding colony is on Montague Islandin the northernmostGulf of Californiain the ColoradoRiver delta; breedingwas suspected in 1992 (Palaciosand Mellink 1993) andconfirmed (14 nests)in 1993 (Peresbarbosaand Mellink1994); 21 nestswere found in 1994 (Peresbarbosa1995)• Someof the skimmerswintering in northwest- ern Baja California and nestingon MontagueIsland were bandedin southern California colonies as chicks (Palaciosand Alfaro 1992, Peresbarbosaand Mellink 1994). Althoughno nestinghas been noted, skimmershave been observedsince 1994 in springand summerin man- made pondsat Cerro Prieto, in the MexicaliValley (K. Radamakerpers. comm.).The skimmersin Baja CaliforniaSur may have originatedfrom mainlandcolonies in Sonora or Sinaloa,Mexico (Palaciosand Alfaro 1992, Carmona et al. 1995). Awayfrom the breedingcolonies and known coastal wintering sites, Black Skimmersare noted regularlyalong the coastfrom San Diego north to Monterey Bay. For example, there are 37 recordsof singleskimmers or smallgroups (up to four)in coastalSan LuisObispo County since 1977, all butseven of whichwere between March and October (T. Edellpers. comm.). The firstsighting in northernCalifornia was of a singlebird at BodegaBay, Sonoma County, 24 July 1971 (DeSante and LeValley 1971); more recently,birds have also reachedcoastal San Mateo County (Yee et al. 1995b,c), Marin County (Yee et al. 1993, 1994, 1995a), and coastal SonomaCounty again (Bailey and Fix 1994), aswell as a numberof siteson San FranciscoBay. All recordson the immediatecoast of northernCalifor- nia are from 22 May to 14 August.The only Channel Islandsrecord is of four individualsseen on Santa Catalina Island,28 June 1995 (McCaskie 1995b). Rosenberget al. (1991) summarizedfive records (involving six individuals) for the lower ColoradoRiver valley; the firstrecord for that regionwas in 1977, and all recordsfall between16 May and 3 September.Other inland sightingsfor southernCalifornia are of a juvenilenear Lakeview and at Lake Elsinore,Riverside County, 27 Augustto 4 September1978 (Garrettand Dunn 1981), two at TwentyninePalms, San BernardinoCounty, 25 August 130 BLACK SKIMMER IN CALIFORNIA 1994 (McCaskie 1995a), and two at China Lake Naval Weapons Center, extreme northeasternKern County, 28 July 1990 (McCaskie1990). At leastthe firstof theseinland records suggests an occasionaloverland route from the Salton Sea to the coast. Additional records of Black Skimmers at inlandsites, in Durangoand Jalisco,Mexico, have been reportedby Williams (1982). UnlikeAtlantic-coast populations nesting north of North Carolina(Burger and Gochfeld1990, Gochfeldand Burger1994), BlackSkimmers breeding in California are not all long-distancemigrants; many winter locally in southernCalifornia (Gazzaniga 1995, 1996). Winteringconcentrations of skimmershave been noted at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, Seal Beachand Upper Newport Bay, OrangeCounty, and MissionBay and San Diego Bay, San Diego County (Gazzaniga1995, 1996) (Figure1). More distant locationsinclude Ensenadaand San Quintin in Baja California, Mexico (Palaciosand Alfaro 1992). Observationsof banded birds have indicated that a few skimmers from the Salton Sea winter on the coast (Molina 1996). Individualsbanded at Bolsa
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