This is birdnode.

That's not a distant dog barking.

It's a black skimmer in flight,

at the Chinca Teague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia.

This striking black and white bird

with a red bill and red feet

has a most unusual way of feeding.

It flies low along the surface of the water

with its beak open.

The bird's long and narrow,

lower mandible ankles down into the water.

When it strikes a small fish,

the shorter curved upperbill snaps shut.

The skimmer rises into the air

and swells its prey or takes it back to its young.

As skimmers feed by touch,

they continue foraging at night

when they are less visible to their prey.

Closely related to turns,

skimmers nest on sand islands

and closely packed colonies.

They depend on undisturbed islands

...