African Skimmer is a bird species listed in the most threatened species in the bird family. This is because of the small population of these birds that could easily lead to extinction. The bird is mostly found in the sub-Saharan Africa. They are confined when breeding within a large area of dry sandbars near broad rivers as well as some of the prominent lakes that are below 1,800 m. for the species, they are only less restricted during the non-breeding season. During these times, they disperse to the rivers, coasts and lakes in respective countries. Some of the most common regions include Egypt, Botswana and Gambia.

The birds are in large concentrations in these regions. The breeding birds are mostly prominent along Zambezi River. The other group of non-breeding flocks of the bird species has been habiting mostly in Kenya and Tanzania with a group approximated 1,000 individuals. This bird species always migrate up and down along the larger rivers. They are mostly from the inland lakes during this period. They mostly breed during the period of dry seasons actually, when rivers are extremely low as well as sandbars being well exposed.

The period is regularly from March to June. This is in East and West African regions. The July to November period applies in the regions south of the equator. During breeding, the birds form small colonies. The colonies compose of at least 50 pairs. It is during the non-breeding season that the birds form larger flocks of at least 1500 birds in total.

For the habitat, this bird species requires actually some calm water that is favorable for feeding. The breeding habitats are free from vegetations on the sandy seashores. For the vagrant birds, they may use swamps as well as other artificial habitats for instance sewage ponds or even dams. The African Skimmer usually feeds on fish for instance cichlids. The foraging is done exclusively in a unique fashion. They skim the water in flight. At this time, the mouth is wide open with its lower mandible well submerged in water. Their breeding site is well organized. The eggs are actually laid in an unlined scrape.

Many eventually have threatened the bird species. With the current flooding of dams there are forced out of the habitat. The upstream areas have also flooded and the downstream flows reduced drastically. This has destroyed suitable habitat for the birds a fact that many people feel that they are leading to extinction. The extensive farming by human beings has brought up siltation in many world rivers. This raises the river levels causing swampy islands. The possible extinction is being facilitated by egg-collecting, birds disturbance and trapping of adult birds. Bird food is also being threatened after over fishing has been experienced as well as introduction of predatory fish.

Measure to conserve this bird has started. Various boards involving conservation have proposed them. This is through the monitoring of the breeding populations of these bird species annually to maintain success. Public awareness campaign has been a tool to conserve the bird species. Ecotourism in respective areas has proven to be a good solution to all the problems of extinction.