ABSTRACT
Three species, with single representatives in mainly tropical areas of each of the Nearctic-Neotropical, Afrotropical and Oriental Regions. The African Skimmer breeds in Kenya. Widely distributed from Senegambia East (E) to Ethiopia and thence South (S), avoiding the equatorial lowland forests of the West (W), to Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique. Apart from a recent record of two in S Somalia, distribution in Kenya reflects the E limit of the range. Breeds at Lake (L) Turkana Mar-May: there is an old record from Ferguson's Gulf 13B, and up to 50 pairs regularly bred on Central Island 14C until fishermen began to camp there in 1973, since when the birds have shifted to Allia Bay 14A and other less disturbed areas. Most records from elsewhere in Kenya and from North (N) Tanzania and E Uganda are in the Aug-Mar period, and are thought to represent post-breeding dispersal of both the Turkana population and probably others in the N tropics.
