{"id":15044,"date":"2026-01-21T11:29:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T05:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=15044"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:21:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:51:50","slug":"indian-skimer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indian-skimer\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Skimmer"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Indian Skimmer Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sighting of endangered Indian Skimmer birds along a 60-km stretch of the Ganga under the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) in Bhagalpur district after nearly 20 years has highlighted significant improvement in the river\u2019s ecological health.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Indian Skimmer<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Indian skimmer, also known as the <\/span><b>Indian scissor-bill<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is a specialised <\/span><b>riverine bird <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">species<\/span><b>.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is known for its unique feeding behaviour of <\/span><b>flying low over water and skimming the surface with its elongated lower mandible to catch fish.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Name: Rynchops albicollis\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Indian Skimmer <\/b><b>Habitat and Distribution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was <\/span><b>formerly widely distributed across the Indian subcontinent<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but it is presently <\/span><b>confined only to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The species primarily<\/span><b> inhabits large, sandy, lowland rivers, lakes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and adjacent marshes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the <\/span><b>non-breeding season,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it is found in <\/span><b>estuaries and coastal areas.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most <\/span><b>breeding colonie<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s are now<\/span><b> confined to rivers such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/chambal-river\/\" target=\"_blank\">Chambal<\/a>, Ganges,<\/b> <b>Yamuna, Mahanadi, and Son,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with additional records from Pong Dam in Himachal Pradesh and the Tawa Reservoir in Madhya Pradesh.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is recognised as an<\/span><b> indicator species of healthy riverine ecosystems.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Indian Skimmer <\/b><b>Features\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It measures 40\u201343 cm in length.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is easily identifiable by its <\/span><b>drooping, bright orange bill,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where the<\/span><b> lower mandible extends farther than the upper.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has a <\/span><b>distinctive black cap, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">black mantle, and <\/span><b>black wings,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which contrast sharply with its <\/span><b>white underparts.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In flight, it displays a white trailing edge on its wings and a short, forked tail with blackish central feathers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Indian Skimmer <\/b><b>Conservation Status<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is classified as &#8216;<b>Endangered<\/b>&#8216; under the IUCN Red List.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><strong>:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/patna\/rare-indian-skimmer-birds-spotted-after-20-yrs-in-bhagalpur\/articleshow\/131184245.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>TOI<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indian Skimmer is a specialised riverine bird species known for its unique feeding behaviour of flying low over water and skimming the surface with its elongated lower mandible to catch fish. Read more about Indian Skimmer, Habitat and Distribution, Conservation Status, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":83562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4856],"class_list":{"0":"post-15044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-indian-skimmer","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15044"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104572,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15044\/revisions\/104572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}