BirdUp · Species
South Polar Skua
Stercorarius maccormickiSaunders, H, 1893
Least ConcernNative
- Order
- CHARADRIIFORMES
- Family
- Stercorariidae
- Genus
- Stercorarius
- Conservation
- Least Concern
- Commonness
- Restricted
- Best seen
- Summer
01 · Identification
How to tell it apart
The south polar skua 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.
Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
02 · Where
Where to find it
- Breeding range
- Coastal Antarctica, especially Ross Sea; also South Shetland and South Orkney is. (off Antarctic Pen.)
- Non-breeding range
- To north offshore waters and North Indian Ocean: mostly clockwise to Japanese and Korean waters (west North Pacific) and Gulf Stream of east USA (west North Atlantic), then south-west Canada to north Baja California (north-west Mexico; east North Pacific) and north-west Africa (east North Atlantic)
03 · When
When to look
Months this species is recorded across its Australian range.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
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