On the morning of 3 July 1968 Suffel discovered five Black Skimmers Rynchops nigra near the mouth of the Whitewater River at the north end of the Salton Sea. The distinctive black-tipped red bill, with the lower mandible extending well beyond the tip of the upper mandible, made the birds easily recognizable as skimmers, and the uniform black upperparts and white underparts made them identifiable as adult Black Skimmers. It was evident that four of the birds were one size, and the fifth was noticeably smaller. Measurements given by Ridgway (1919) indicate females are appreciably smaller than males, so it would appear that four males and one female were involved.