Watch your step: Skimmers descend on Holmes Beach

What’s black and white and red all over? A skimmer, but this one won’t steal your credit card information.

A large colony of black skimmers has selected a patch of dunes in front of 5400 Gulf Drive Condominiums in Holmes Beach for the next few weeks while incubating their eggs. But their spot, on renourishment sand, had caused a slight headache for condo residents who found their beach access trapped within the skimmer habitat.

Holmes Beach code enforcement officer James Thomas said the birds were first spotted Thursday. The area was monitored, but action wasn’t taken until three days later when Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, which has state permits to stake out wildlife areas, saw some eggs and decided the area needed to be roped off.

At first, the area cut off a good chunk of the beach and prevented residents of 5400 Gulf Drive from getting to their beach access. After a little finagling with how much beach the birds actually needed and how to forge a path for the condo residents without damaging the dunes, a satisfactory agreement between the humans and wildlife was met.

“Everyone’s happy,” said condo resident Louise Paglino. “We’ve had skimmers out there nesting in the past, but this was the first time they had blocked the beach access.”

The black skimmer, a black and white shore bird with red legs and beaks, are both state and federally protected — without management, the colony’s chance at survival would be dismal, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They nest on the ground and their young are sand-colored, so beachgoers should watch their step. Skimmers are also best known in the birding world for their strange but practical beaks: their lower mandibles are longer because when catching food, they fly over shallow water and “skim” the surface, scooping up fish along the way.

About 40 individuals were braving the breezy weather Tuesday, either laying flat in the sand or turning their faces away from the wind. But Suzi Fox with AMI Turtle Watch said there were about 70 individuals and about 10 nests on Sunday, according to a Facebook post. Incubation lasts around 23 days and each female lays three to five eggs.

While they birds are busy fending off feline foes and persistent crows, they’ll also have to face a predictably packed Memorial Day weekend. The FWC suggests beachgoers should keep their distance from birds and should not chase them as expending energy could hurt them or their young. If beachgoers are disturbing nesting birds, the FWC suggests educating them before calling their Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922.

“They’re beautiful birds, so everybody’s rooting for them,” Paglino said.

This story was originally published May 23, 2017 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Watch your step: Skimmers descend on Holmes Beach."