Zombie birds? ‘Dead’ fowl on Outer Banks will suddenly spring to life, NC park warns

Beware of those little bird “corpses” littering North Carolina’s Outer Banks: They’ll likely spring to life if you get close.

Known as black skimmers, the birds are notorious for appearing to have collapsed and died on the sand, the National Park Service noted in an Oct. 7 Facebook post.

A photo featured in the post showed one of the convincingly “dead” birds at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

“Black skimmers ... can be seen ‘skimming’ the water for fish. They can also often be seen laying down flat on their stomachs, resting their heads and bills on the ground,” park officials noted.

“Although the exact reason for this behavior is unknown, it’s likely that they are trying to keep cool or to rest their neck muscles. Sometimes, they’re even seen in a splayed prone position or a ‘sploot’ as a way to maximize cooling.”

Before doing this, the birds will scrape away the hot top layer of sand to expose cooler sand below, experts say.

The eccentric birds are among 250 species of fowl found seasonally at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, experts say.

Aside from lying around like they’re dead, black skimmers are known for sporting an unusual “black and reddish-orange” bill that has a longer lower jaw than upper jaw.

“The skimmer uses this long, scissor-like bill to skim the water’s surface for small fish and crustaceans,” the NPS says. “Like many other colonial nesting birds, black skimmers prefer to nest on uninhabited beaches or dredge spoil islands.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 7:23 AM.