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The Skimmers are a small family of tern-like birds in the order Charadriiformes, which also includes the waders, gulls and auks. The three species have an elongated lower mandible. They feed by flying low over the water surface with the lower mandible skimming the water for small fish. They are tropical species which lay 3-6 eggs on sandy beaches. The female incubates the eggs. See Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy for an alternative classification. The genus name Rhynchops is sometimes spelled Rhyncops (also due to Linnaeus).
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