Algeria, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Austria (P), Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria (NB), Canada, Cape Verde, Colombia, Denmark (P), Dominica, Egypt, Faroe Islands (B), France (NB) (P), French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar (NB), Greenland (NB), Guadeloupe, Guyana, Iceland (B), Ireland (B), Italy (NB), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Martinique, Mauritania, Montserrat, Morocco, Netherlands (NB), Netherlands Antilles, Norway (B), Panama, Portugal (NB), Puerto Rico, Russia (European) (B), Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Spain (NB), St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon (NB), St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (B), Sweden, Tunisia, United Kingdom (B), USA (NB).
Unknown to Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (U.S.).
Iceland, Faeroes, northern Scotland, and recently a few sites in Svalbard, Bear I, Norway, Jan Mayen and Veshnjak I, Kola Peninsula (north-western Russia). Winters predominantly off Iberia, with young birds moving as far southern as Cape Verde Is and Brazil; small numbers winter on Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Population
Estimated population is 48,000 - 48,000 (2010).
Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) [XC479360]
by Stanislas Wroza from Eastern Region, Iceland (flight call)
Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) [XC479359]
by Stanislas Wroza from Eastern Region, Iceland (flight call)
Nest
Shallow scrape on open ground, sparsely lined with leaves and feathers.
Eggs (Guide)
2; smooth, chestnut-brown or paler with variable brown spots and blotches. Incubation: 26 - 32 days; mainly by female.
Subspecies
Great Skua (Catharacta skua), Southern Skua (Catharacta lonnbergi), Brown Skua (Catharacta antarctica) and South Polar Skua (Catharacta maccormicki) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), cross-regional species, are retained as separate species contra Christidis and Boles (1994) and Turbott (1990) who include lonnbergi and antarctica as subspecies of Great Skua (Catharacta skua) and AERC TAC (2003) who include South Polar Skua (Catharacta maccormicki) as a subspecies of Great Skua (Catharacta skua).
No subspecies.
Notes
Previously four subspecies of Catharacta skua, were nominate skua, lonnbergi, antarctica and hamiltoni. They have now been split into four distinct species, Great Skua Catharacta skua, breeds in northern hemisphere, Southern Skua Catharacta antarctica, breeds Falkland Islands and Patagonia, Brown Skua Catharacta lonnbergi, circumpolar, breeding on subantarctic islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, and Chatham Island, and Chilean Skua Catharacta chilensis.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet