The Tampa Christmas Bird Count was well-underway when Jeff Liechty of Audubon Florida’s coastal team spotted a banded Black Skimmer amidst a resting, mixed flock of skimmers, gulls, and pelicans. Zeroing in on its tiny, numeric bracelet, Jeff snapped photos so he could so some research and submit his critical resight data once he made it safely back to dry land. The identity of this particular Black Skimmer blew him away. 

3E2, as the Black Skimmer is now known, was banded in July of 2021 as a pre-fledged chick on a barge near the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in Hampton, Virginia. Jeff’s observation is the first resight of the bird! This skimmer is especially exciting because it marks the success of a conservation project all the way up in the Mid-Atlantic.

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