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Skuas
File:Stercorarius pomarinusPCCA20070623-3985B.jpg
Pomarine Skua
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Aequorlitornithes
Order: Charadriiformes
Suborder: Lari
Family: Stercorariidae
Gray, 1871
Genus: Stercorarius
Brisson, 1760

The skuas ( /ˈskjuːə/) are a group of seabirds with about seven species forming the family Stercorariidae and the genus Stercorarius. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America.

The English word "skua" comes from the Faroese name skúgvur Template:IPA-fo for the Great Skua, with the island of Skúvoy renowned for its colony of that bird. The general Faroese term for skuas is kjógvi Template:IPA-fo. The word "jaeger" is derived from the German word Jäger, meaning "hunter".

Skuas nest on the ground in temperate and Arctic regions, and are long-distance migrants. They have even been sighted at the South Pole.[1]

Biology and habits[]

Outside the breeding season, skuas take fish, offal, and carrion. Many are partial kleptoparasites, comprising up to 95% of the feeding methods of wintering birds, by chasing gulls, terns and other seabirds to steal their catches, regardless of the size of the species attacked (up to 3 times heavier than the attacking skua). The larger species, such as the Great Skua, also regularly kill and eat adult birds, such as puffins and gulls, and have been recorded as killing birds as large as a Grey Heron.[2] On the breeding grounds they commonly eat lemmings, and the eggs and young of other birds.[3] In the Southern oceans and Antarctica region, some skua species (especially the South Polar Skua) will readily scavenge the carcasses at breeding colonies of penguins and pinnipeds, sometimes taking live penguin chicks. In these areas, skuas seem to defer to the considerably larger giant petrels.[4]

File:Skuas and Giant Petrel.jpg

Two skuas and a giant petrel fighting over a dead Antarctic Fur Seal

They are medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings.[3] The skuas range in size from the Long-tailed Skua, Stercorarius longicauda, at 310 grams (11 oz), to the Brown Skua, Stercorarius antarcticus, at 1.63 kg (3.6 lb). On average, a skua is about 56 cm (22 in) long, and 121 cm (48 in) across the wings. They have longish bills with a hooked tip, and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls, but have a fleshy cere above the upper mandible. The skuas are strong, acrobatic fliers. They are generally aggressive in disposition. Potential predators who go near their nest will be quickly dived at by the parent bird, which usually targets the head of the intruder.

Taxonomy[]

Skuas are related to gulls, waders, auks, and skimmers. In the three smaller species, all nesting exclusively in the Holarctic, breeding adults have the two central tail feathers obviously elongated, and at least some adults have white on the underparts and pale yellow on the neck. These characteristics are not shared by the larger species, all native to the Southern Hemisphere except for the Great Skua. Therefore the skuas are often split into two genera, with only the smaller species retained in Stercorarius, and the large species placed in Catharacta. However, based on genetics, behavior, and feather lice, the overall relationship among the species is best expressed by placing all in a single genus.[5] The Pomarine and Great Skuas' mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother) is in fact more closely related to each other than it is to either Arctic or Long-tailed Skuas, or to the Southern Hemisphere species.[6] Thus, hybridization must have played a considerable role in the evolution of the diversity of Northern Hemisphere skuas.

Species[]

File:Skua antarctica uscg04.jpg

Skua in Antarctica

File:Baby Skua.jpg

A baby skua, with egg tooth present

  • Long-tailed Skua or Long-tailed Jaeger, Stercorarius longicaudus
  • Parasitic Skua or Arctic Jaeger, Stercorarius parasiticus
  • Pomarine Skua or Pomarine Jaeger, Stercorarius pomarinus
  • Chilean Skua, Stercorarius chilensis
  • South Polar Skua, Stercorarius maccormicki
  • Brown Skua, Stercorarius antarcticus
    • Falkland Skua, Stercorarius (antarcticus) antarcticus
    • Tristan Skua, Stercorarius (antarcticus) hamiltoni
    • Subantarctic Skua, Stercorarius (antarcticus) lonnbergi
  • Great Skua Stercorarius skua

References[]

  1. ^ Mark Sabbatini, "Non-human life form seen at Pole", The Antarctic Sun, 5 January 2003.
  2. ^ Scottish Ornithologists' Club
  3. ^ a b Harrison, Colin J.O. (1991). Forshaw, Joseph, ed. Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds. London: Merehurst Press. p. 109. ISBN 1-85391-186-0. 
  4. ^ http://carnivoraforum.com/index.cgi?board=interspecific&action=print&thread=390
  5. ^ AOU (2000). Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117(3):847–858.
  6. ^ Cohen, Baker, Belchschmidt, Dittmann, Furness, Gerwin, Helbig , de Korte, Marshall, Palma, Peter, Ramli, Siebold, Willcox, Wilson and Zink (1997). Enigmatic phylogeny of skuas. Proc. Biol. Sci. 264(1379): 181–190.

External links[]

Template:Wikicommons


Sterna diversity This article is part of Project Bird Families, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each bird family, including made-up families.
Eurasian Spoonbill This article is part of Project Bird Genera, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each genus, including made-up genera.
Hemipus picatus This article is part of Project Bird Taxonomy, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every order, family and other taxonomic rank related to birds.
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