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 farther 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. lonnbergi). To further confuse, it hybridizes with both the south polar and Chilean 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 This is the heaviest species of skua and rivals the largest gulls, the great black-backed gull and glaucous gull, as the heaviest species in the shorebird order 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. a. lonnbergi. Range: subantarctic. S. a. antarcticus. Range: Falkland Islands. S. a. hamiltoni. Range: Tristan da Cunha.
Ecology
Diet It feeds on fish (often via kleptoparasitism), penguin chicks and other seabirds, small mammals, eggs and carrion.
References
Further reading
External links Brown skua, subantarctic skua - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds