Great Skua

Wilson's Storm-petrel photo by Dave Jones

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Seabirds | Jaegers Skua | Great Skua

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New England Seabirds

Great Skua

Catharacta skua

Great Skua photographed in the Shetland Islands by Emmalee Tarry. Note the pale leading edge to the wings..

Other Names
Bonxie. Great Skua was formerly lumped with newly named Brown Skua of the southern hemisphere. Australian bird books may refer to the skua seen in their waters as Great Skua rather than Brown Skua.

How To See
Seeing this bird in New England is a hard go. Skuas seen in the summer and fall are most probably South Polar Skuas and the Great Skua has not been identified on Stellwagen Bank even in winter.

The Maine Audubon Fall Pelagic out of Bar Harbor has been successful at seeing this bird.

Since it is very hard to take an offshore winter pelagic in New England your best bet to list this bird for North America is to take a winter pelagic trip from New Jersey or further south. To see the bird on the breeding grounds go to the Shetland Islands or Iceland. See Wandering Birder - Wandering Europe by Emmalee Tarry.

Breeds
Iceland, Faeroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Orkney Island as to a lesser extent in Norway and Northern Russia. (3)

Usually breeds in loose colonies of up to 100 pairs on wet moorlands favoring those with small rises. Most colonies are near other seabird colonies such as Kittiwakes and Puffins.

Disbursal
Breeding adults usually stay near the breeding grounds. Immature birds range further in the first and especially the second winter. Most range on the eastern side of the Atlantic down to Africa.

Iceland birds are seen on the east coast of the North America all the way to the coast of Brazil.

Feeding
Described as an opportunistic feeder. Breeds near colonies of Puffins and Kittiwakes and uses kleptoparisitism to steal food. Also preys on Puffins directly. Takes eggs from Kittiwakes. On land takes Lemmings and other small mammals. At sea takes small land birds that stray offshore. It also fishes taking Sand-eels.

Great Skua on the August 28, 2010 BBC Offshore Pelagic
On the August 2010 offshore pelagic this Great Skua was seen and photographed in the vicinity of Nantucket Shoals. This was probably a second year bird hatched in Iceland.

Two photos of the same Great Skua from the August 2010 pelagic shared by Jim Hully. hullyjr@comcast.net Photos remain the property of the photographer. Nice job Jim.

Great Skua photographed on the Shetland Islands. Notice short tail and broad wings with large white flashes. All of the Shetland Island photographs were taken by Emmalee Tarry with a point and shoot camera. These picture show what a wonderful experience a visit to the Orkney and Shetland Islands can be.

Great Skua flying almost directly above. Notice that wings look narrow and pointed.

Great Skua photographed on Hoy in the Orkney Islands by Emmalee Tarry.

Defensive display of Great Skua in the Shetland Islands when the photographer approached too closely.
References: 1. 1997 Olsen, Klaus Malling and Larsson, Hans Skuas And Jaegers: A Guide to the Skuas and Jaegers of the World. Yale University Press, New Haven and London

Nocturnal Predation by Skuas in Scotlandą
Posted by: "Jennifer Rycenga" gyrrlfalcon@earthlink.net gyrrlfalcon2
Date: Sun Nov 11, 2007 8:13 am ((PST))

Article of interest - Jennifer Rycenga, Half Moon Bay, California, USA

Bird night attacks may be unique
Steven McKenzie BBC Scotland News, Highlands and Islands reporter
Last Updated: Monday, 5 November 2007, 00:42 GMT

Incidents of a seabird preying on colonies of another species at night
may be unique to a remote islands archipelago.
Ecologist Will Miles said initial research of great skua preying on
Leach's petrel on St Kilda found the behaviour was unlikely to be
common.

The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has been recording "alarming"
falls in the smaller petrels on the islands.

Mr Miles and fellow researchers used night vision gear to observe the
skua.

NTS said the Leach's petrel colony on St Kilda, which it owns, is the
largest in Europe and numbers about 40,000 pairs.

Researchers from Glasgow University have been investigating suggestions
that great skua, or bonxie, may be eating up to 14,000 petrels every
year.

The research on Hirta, St Kilda, will run until 2009.

Results of this year's work are still being analysed, however, Mr Miles
revealed some intriguing insights into the bonxies' behaviour.

He said: "The skuas are highly active on the petrel colonies at night
and catch petrels in a variety of ways - both on the ground and in the
air.

"Nocturnal foraging by great skuas is thought to be quite a rare
situation.

"At least, it has not been widely reported from the most intensively
studied skua colonies on Shetland or from elsewhere across the species'
breeding range.

"The situation on Kilda seems rather unique in this respect."

Why the bonxie prey on petrels may be down to a combination of factors.

Great skua feed on fish, carrion and other birds. The RSPB give them
green status, meaning there is no identified threat to its population
The starling-sized Leach's petrel lives on crustaceans, molluscs and
small fish
Leach's petrel have amber status - meaning that they have suffered a
historical decline but have recovered

They include limited other food sources, competition between the skuas
and when the birds nest close to petrel colonies.

Mr Miles said: "Skuas are highly opportunistic predators and some
individuals seem to develop a taste for certain prey types.

"One possibility may be that on Kilda the petrels are a relatively
abundant prey type, a few individual skuas have exploited this
situation opportunistically and their behaviour has been copied by
others looking for an easy meal."

After assessing the safety of vantage points, the researchers spent
nights close to high cliffs, steep slopes and scree boulder fields.

Mr Miles said: "Once on-site, we then stayed put in one watching
position for the hours of darkness and just observed the bird activity."

The vigils were often to the backdrop of the sound of puffins, manx
shearwaters and European storm petrels.

'Elegant seabirds'

Mr Miles said: "The call of the shearwaters is particularly evocative
and bizarre - sometimes likened to a chicken with asthma. It is rather
a wheezy, wailing sort of call."

Mr Miles admitted it could be hard to be an impartial observer.

He said: "Yes, Leach's petrels seem tiny and elegant seabirds when
compared with bonxies, so of course it can be difficult to watch a
petrel get eaten without feeling some kind of regret.

"Predation is a normal occurrence in nature though, even if rarely
observed."

Data gathered by researchers will be used to help guide conservation
efforts for both species.

ąReported by BBC World News