South Polar Skua
Stercorarius maccormicki Saunders, H, 1893
53 cmLength135 cmWingspan1.3 kgWeight
This thick-breasted bird has striking white wing patches and often steals fish caught by other seabirds.
Busiest months: February and November · Most records: Antarctica, United States, Spain
Looks like Pomarine Jaeger
How to identify
Field marks
- Adult back gray-rufous
- Pale-morph adult has a whitish head and belly; intermediate morph straw-rufous
- Breast thick; size relatively large
- Distinct white flashes on the wings
Male, female and young
Juvenile and dark-morph adult are harder to separate from close relatives; cooler rufous feathers and a blue bill base are clues.
Similar species
Where and when it's recorded
Busiest months: February and November · Most records: Antarctica, United States, Spain
South Polar Skua has been recorded at 53 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 23 countries and regions.
Records by month Southern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Errera Channel – Cuverville IslandAntarctica361 records
- Andvord Bay – Neko HarborAntarctica358 records
- Half Moon IslandAntarctica220 records
More places
- Petermann IslandAntarctica214 records
- Estaca de Bares – Observatorio de aves y entornoSpain180 records
- Errera Channel – Danco IslandAntarctica153 records
- Mikkelsen Harbor – D'Hainaut IslandAntarctica147 records
- Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States133 records
- Paulet IslandAntarctica122 records
- Cierva CoveAntarctica111 records
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
About
The south polar skua (Stercorarius maccormicki) is a large seabird in the skua family, Stercorariidae. An older name for the bird is MacCormick's skua, after explorer and naval surgeon Robert McCormick, who first collected the type specimen. This species and the other large skuas, such as the great skua, are sometimes placed in a separate genus Catharacta.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the South Polar Skua?
The South Polar Skua is about 53 cm long, with a wingspan of 135 cm and weighs around 1.3 kg.
Where does the South Polar Skua live?
Its breeding range: Antarctica: coastal Antarctica, especially Ross Sea; also South Shetland and South Orkney islands (off Antarctic Peninsula). It is most often recorded in Antarctica, United States and Spain.
When is the best time to see the South Polar Skua?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in February and November (Southern Hemisphere).
Is the South Polar Skua endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the South Polar Skua as Least Concern.
What does the South Polar Skua eat?
Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.
What family is the South Polar Skua in?
It belongs to the family Skuas (Stercorariidae), order Charadriiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- 53 cm
- Wingspan
- 135 cm
- Weight
- 1.3 kg
- Habitat
- Ocean
- Diet
- Fish, shrimp & shellfish
- Lifestyle
- Feeds in the air
- Migration
- Migratory
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 387 mm
- Tail
- 135 mm
- Bill
- 53 mm
- Tarsus
- 56 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Antarctica: coastal Antarctica, especially Ross Sea; also South Shetland and South Orkney islands (off Antarctic Peninsula)
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Skuas Stercorariidae
- Genus
- Stercorarius
Other birds in the genus Stercorarius
Long-tailed JaegerStercorarius longicaudus
Parasitic JaegerStercorarius parasiticus
Great SkuaStercorarius skua
Chilean SkuaStercorarius chilensis
Brown SkuaStercorarius antarcticus
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Дмитрий. ↗
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