The Indian skimmer is commonly known and most popular because of the unique bill. The bill has a longer lower mandible. This is a perfect adaptation and an advantage in search of food. They are able to execute tactfully their feeding technique. This is what is known as the skimming technique. They do this near the surface of the water to get a prey out and acquire food. The bill’s color is distinctively deep orange. It has a yellow tip. This together with the bird’s bright red legs makes the bird stand out in the coloration with a splash of colors. The black and white body completes the color and makes it look splendid.

The bird has black upperparts. These become duller and turn to be brown for the non-breeding bird. It has a white under-body. The same applies to the forehead, trailing wing edge and the neck-collar. The size of these birds is almost the same sex wise. However, the females are somewhat smaller than the males. For the species juveniles, they have an orange bill and a blackish tip. Their legs are dull orange in color. For the upperparts of the body, they are brownish-grey in color and some white-buff fringes especially at the mantle as well as wing-coverts.

This bird species is found mostly within the Indian subcontinent. Other smaller numbers inhabit the Southeast of Asia. Earlier, these bird species were widely distributed within the Indian subcontinent. The areas mostly found include Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Currently these birds mostly occupy Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Myanmar. They occasionally are known to visit Nepal and some other few regions within the continent.

These birds inhabit many regions. Their habitats are mostly in large, lowland rivers, sandy, adjacent marshes and around lakes. Their breeding mostly occurs in the exposed sandbars as well as islands. During the non-breeding season, these birds move to estuaries as well as coasts where they reside for the entire period.

In reality, the Indian skimmer is known to be a social bird. The birds have colonies within the nests. They roost communally actually on sand banks. The birds feed mostly in flocks but they also feed individually. The bird does the hunting up and down within the large rivers as well as the lakes. It is irrespective of the time because they can do it at daytime or at night when moon shines and brightens the surface.

Their food is solely dependent on the skimming technique. They skim through the water actually in a flight. In the process, the birds use the projecting lower mandible, which they submerge in water until they get in contact with a prey. This is usually the fish near the surface of the water. For the birds, they swallow the prey in the flight. However, others do it after landing.

The birds have been threatened by an increase in threats. With the latest statistics, they are declining by day. This is because of widespread disturbance, degradation and exploitation of the respective lowland rivers and lakes, which are the main habitats of the same birds.