If you’re out enjoying Alabama’s beaches this weekend for the Fourth of July, you may spot a black and white bird flying very low over the water, or maybe flopped on the sand, trying to rest.

It’s the black skimmer, one of the many shorebirds that call Alabama home. They have a long, black and orange bill, with with a noticeable underbite.

Black skimmers use their unusual bill to catch fish: They fly just above the surface of the water, using their lower mandible to skim the surface. When the birds find a fish, they snap their bill shut, ensnaring the fish.

“That’s how they get their name,” said Lianne Koczur, science and conservation director with Alabama Audubon, the local chapter of the national group. “They’re like skimming the surface of the water trying to catch fish, which is really neat.”

Along with the other two skimmer species, black skimmers are the only birds on earth that feed this way, according to Cornell University. They will bring some of those fish back to their young to feed them, Koczur said.

Young black skimmers are born with beaks that are roughly even in size, then as the birds grow, the lower mandible becomes longer than the top.

In April, black skimmers begin to arrive in Alabama, where they will breed for the summer on nearshore islands on the coast, like in Portersville Bay. Extremely sensitive to disturbances, black skimmers avoid nesting in areas with a lot of human intrusion, Koczur said.

Their nests are small holes in the sand called “scrapes.” Koczur estimates that Alabama has about 200 nesting pairs that reside in the state every summer.

“They’re a really cool bird that really needs some help here to try and get this population decline reversed,” Koczur said.

The black skimmer population has been in steep decline over the last 60 years, according to Cornell University. The bird’s population declined an estimated 4% per year between 1966 and 2015, a cumulative loss of 87%.

Black skimmers face a variety of challenges, Koczur said. Like many shorebirds, habitat loss is a big driver of their decline, especially because they are so sensitive to disturbances. If they’re disturbed too much, Koczur said, they’ll abandon the site.

In addition, black skimmer nests are vulnerable to flooding and storm surge, as well as erosion. Eggs and chicks also have to be protected from predators, including other birds like night herons and gull-billed terns.

Starting in August, the black skimmer will begin migrating south for the winter. They spend their winters in Central and South America, primarily living on the coast. They live year-round in Brazil, according to the Audubon Society.

If you encounter a black skimmer on the beach, be sure to give it plenty of room, Koczur said. You can see them well enough from a distance. You’ll know you’re too close to them if the birds start making a lot of noise and divebombing (a habit of the least tern, another sassy shorebird in Alabama).

Black skimmers will sometimes rest on the beach by laying their head and belly on the sand, Koczur said. A casual observer may think the bird is dead. But rest assured, it’s not—the bird is just trying to relax and beat the heat, like anyone else on a beach in Alabama in July.