WikiSysop at 11:30, 13 May 2008

2008-05-13T11:30:51Z

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<p><strong>Skuas</strong> are seabirds in the family <strong>Stercorariidae</strong>. The three smaller skuas are called <strong>jaegers</strong> in North America.</p>
<p>The name <em>skua</em> comes from Faroese <em>skúgvur</em> <small><font size="2">IPA</font></small>: <span class="IPA" title="Pronunciation in IPA"><font face="Arial Unicode MS">[ˈskɪkvʊɹ]</font></span> (<em>Stercorarius skua</em>), and the island of Skúvoy is renowned for its colony of that bird. <em>Jaeger</em> is derived from the German word <em>Jäger</em>, meaning <em>hunter</em>.</p>
<p>Skuas nest on the ground in temperate and Arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.</p>
<p>Outside the breeding season they take fish, offal and carrion. Many are partial kleptoparasites, chasing gulls, terns and other seabirds to steal their catches; the larger species also regularly kill and eat adult birds, up to the size of Great Black-backed Gulls. On the breeding grounds they commonly eat lemmings, and the eggs and young of other birds.</p>
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<div class="thumbinner" style="WIDTH: 252px"><img class="thumbimage" height="164" alt="Two skuas and a giant petrel are fighting over a dead Antarctic fur seal" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Skuas_and_Giant_Petrel.jpg/250px-Skuas_and_Giant_Petrel.jpg" width="250" border="0" />
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<div class="magnify"><span class="" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 2px; DISPLAY: inline-block; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 2px; FONT-SIZE: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: #0000ff; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 2px; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: #0000ff; VERTICAL-ALIGN: middle; CURSOR: hand; BORDER-TOP-COLOR: #0000ff; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 2px; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: #0000ff"><span style="DISPLAY: inline-block; FILTER: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png'); WIDTH: 1px; HEIGHT: 1px"></span></span></div>
Two <strong class="selflink">skuas</strong> and a giant petrel are fighting over a dead Antarctic fur seal</div>
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<p>They are in general medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They have longish bills with a hooked tip, and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls, but have a fleshy cere above the upper mandible. They are strong, acrobatic fliers.</p>
<p>Skuas are related to gulls, waders, auks and skimmers. In the three smaller species (all Holarctic), breeding adults have the two central tail feathers obviously elongated and at least some adults have white on the underparts and pale yellow on the neck, characteristics that the larger species (all native to the Southern Hemisphere except for the Great Skua) do not share. Therefore the skuas are often split into two genera with only the smaller species retained in <em>Stercorarius</em>, and the large species placed in <em>Catharacta</em>. However, there is no genetic basis for this separation<sup class="noprint Template-Fact"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since February 2007" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[<em>citation needed</em>]</span></sup>. The Pomarine and Great Skuas' mitochondrial DNA (which is inherited from the mother only) is in fact more closely related to each other than it is to either Arctic or Long-tailed Skuas, or to the Southern Hemisphere species<sup class="noprint Template-Fact"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since February 2007" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[<em>citation needed</em>]</span></sup>. Thus, hybridization must have played a considerable role in the evolution of the diversity of Northern Hemisphere skuas.</p>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline">Species</span></h2>
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<div class="thumbinner" style="WIDTH: 252px"><img class="thumbimage" height="188" alt="Skua in Antarctica" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Skua_antarctica_uscg04.jpg/250px-Skua_antarctica_uscg04.jpg" width="250" border="0" />
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<div class="magnify"><span class="" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 2px; DISPLAY: inline-block; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 2px; FONT-SIZE: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: #0000ff; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 2px; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: #0000ff; VERTICAL-ALIGN: middle; CURSOR: hand; BORDER-TOP-COLOR: #0000ff; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 2px; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: #0000ff"><span style="DISPLAY: inline-block; FILTER: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png'); WIDTH: 1px; HEIGHT: 1px"></span></span></div>
Skua in Antarctica</div>
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<ul>
<li>Long-tailed Skua or Long-tailed Jaeger, <em>Stercorarius longicaudus</em> </li>
<li>Arctic Skua or Parasitic Jaeger, <em>Stercorarius parasiticus</em> </li>
<li>Pomarine Skua or Pomarine Jaeger, <em>Stercorarius pomarinus</em> </li>
<li>Chilean Skua, <em>Stercorarius chilensis</em> </li>
<li><font color="#800080">South Polar Skua</font>, <em>Stercorarius maccormicki</em> </li>
<li>Brown Skua, <em>Stercorarius antarctica</em> </li>
<li>Great Skua <em>Stercorarius skua</em> </li>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline">References</span></h2>
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<li>Harrison, Peter <em>Seabirds: An Identification Guide</em> ISBN 0-7470-1410-8 </li>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline">External links</span></h2>
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<li><a class="external text" title="http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/familia.phtml?idFamilia=65" href="http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/familia.phtml?idFamilia=65" rel="nofollow">Skua videos</a> on the Internet Bird Collection </li>
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Skua - Revision history

WikiSysop at 11:30, 13 May 2008