Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus

adult dark morph

adult dark morph adult pale morph European distribution Pale phase adult at rest

Identification

The Arctic Skua exists in three plumage forms. The dark morph is uniformly dark brown, the pale morph has almost completely white underparts, though sometimes with a dark breast-band and the intermediate is pale brown. In all plumages, it has an obvious pale panel in the primaries, visible from above and below. Adults have two elongated pointed feathers sticking beyond the rest of the tail as a single central prong. Juveniles lack this prong and show a variable amount of barring in their plumage.

Habitat

Breeds on moorland near sea. Winters at sea.

Behaviour

Occurs in three colour morphs; dark, light and intermediate. Male light morph birds have been shown to be more aggressive, which hinders the pair formation process and causes them to breed later in the season than dark birds. Hence, light birds are more numerous further north where late breeding coincides with the availability of lemmings and dark morphs are more abundant in more southerly colonies where early breeding coincides with the time when other seabirds are most likely to be carrying fish for their young.

Migration

Migrates to the south Atlantic August to September returning April to May.

This information is taken from the BirdFile on the appropriate BirdGuides DVD-ROM. As well as video and sounds, our CD- and DVD-ROMs contain additional text on Voice, Sexing, Ageing, Food, Nests and Eggs and more.

For the purposes of our bird news services, Arctic Skua is classed as Common: common species, including species that are certain or probable escapees from captivity when occurring in the British Isles. (Note that rarity levels are currently applied nationally and may not reflect local variations in abundance.)

Reculver, Kent 30/08/2010	Fife Ness, Fife 22/08/2010	Toft, Shetland 11/08/2010	Handa Island, Highland 03/08/2010	Handa Island, Highland 03/08/2010
Stromness, Mainland, Orkney 01/08/2010	Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire 24/07/2010	Sandwick, Shetland 06/07/2010	Scatness, Shetland 19/07/2010	Scatness, Shetland 19/07/2010

 View all pictures of Arctic Skua

Arctic Skua breeds in the following countries (Bird News Extra subscribers will see population statistics and information on trends for each country):

Britain
Faroe Islands
Finland
Greenland
Iceland
Norway
Russia
Svalbard
Sweden

http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob5670.htm   BTO BirdFacts: Arctic Skua	Edit this link
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