Skuas are in general medium to large birds, typically with gray or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wing. On average, a skua is about 56 cm and 121 cm across the wings. They have longish bills with a hooked tip, and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls. 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 a parent skuas. They will chase 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 also regularly kill and eat adult birds. On the breeding grounds they commonly eat the eggs and young of other birds. [abstracted from Wikipedia]


Genus Stercorarius
The skuas 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 the Americas. Skuas nest on the ground in temperate and Arctic regions, and are long-distance migrants.

Skua, Brown Stercorarius antarcticus Found: South America, Afica, south Asia, and the Antarctic Region
Image by: 1) Su Yin Khoo - Australia  2, 4) David Cook - Australia  4) Nick Athanas - Argentina  5) Winfried_Bruenken



Skua, Chilean  Stercorarius chilensis  Found: South America Image by: 1) Arthur Chapman near Ushuaia, Argentina  2) Charlie Westerinen - southern Argentina   3) Nick Athanas - Chile  4, 5, 6) dFaulder near Ushuaia, Argentina



Skua, Great Stercorarius skua   Found: The Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa
The Great Skua is predominantly in Northern Hemisphere. It is streaked gray-brown with a dark cap. It is closely related to the Brown Skua and Chilean Skua. Image by: 1) Dick Daniels- Featherdale Wildlife Park, Australia  2, 4) Andreas Trepte  3) Bill Bouton - Scotland  5) Dick - Scotland  6) Charlie Westerinen - close to Surtsey Island at Iceland
1) Juvenile



Skua, Long-tailed also Long-tailed Jaeger  Stercorarius longicaudus   Found: The Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia Image by:  1, 2) Marcel Holyoak - California     3) Jerzy Strzelecki  Stephen Clegg - Norway  5, 6) US of the Fish and Wildlife Service
1, 2) Juvenile



Skua, Parasitic also Arctic Skua also Parasitic Jaeger  Stercorarius parasiticus  Found: North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia Image by:  1) Bill Bouton - California   2, 3) Tony Morris  5) Arnstein Ronning - Norway  4) Charlie Westerinen - Svalbard , Norway     6) Art Sowls of the USFWS   7) Per Harald Olsen - Svalbard, Norway  8) Indyhoose - Handa Island, Scotland
1) Light juvenile  2, 3) Light breeding adult  8) Dark phase


Skua,_Pomarine  also Pomarine Jaeger  Stercorarius pomarinus  Found: North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia