The brown skua ( Stercorarius antarcticus), also known as the Antarctic skua, Subantarctic skua, southern great skua, southern skua, or hākoakoa (Māori), is a large seabird that breeds in the subantarctic and Antarctic zones and moves further north when not breeding. Its taxonomy is highly complex and a matter of dispute, with some splitting it into two or three species: Falkland skua ( S. antarcticus), Tristan skua ( S. hamiltoni), and subantarctic skua ( S. lönnbergi). To further confuse, it hybridizes with both the south polar and Chilean skua skuas, and the entire group has been considered to be a subspecies of the great skua, a species otherwise restricted to the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
carcass]]This is the heaviest species of
skua and rivals the largest
, the great black-backed gull and
glaucous gull, as the heaviest species in the
Charadriiformes although not as large in length or wingspan.
It is in length, in wingspan and has a body mass of .
[ HBW 3 - Species accounts: Brown Skua (2011).][ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), .] S. a. hamiltoni measured on
Gough Island, weighed an average of in 9 males and in 9 females.
S. a. lonnbergi measured in the
Chatham Islands weighed an average of in 30 males and an average of in 32 females. The latter is one of the highest colony mean body mass for any living species of shorebird.
[ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses, 2nd Edition by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (2008), .]
A study in 2016 reported that brown skuas can identify individual human beings, possibly indicating high cognitive abilities.
Brown skuas have been noted for sometimes bonding with humans who live for extended periods in Antarctica, such as the Eastern Orthodox clergymen at Trinity Church, and engaging in playful or apparently mischievous behavior with them.
Taxonomy
There are three accepted subspecies:
-
S. antarcticus lonnbergi. Range: subantarctic.
-
S. antarcticus antarcticus. Range: Falkland Islands.
-
S. antarctis hamiltoni. Range: Tristan da Cunha.
Ecology
Diet
It feeds on
fish (often via
kleptoparasitism), penguin chicks and other
, small
, eggs and
carrion.
Further reading
External links
