Great Skua

Status Rare visitant. Although there were several nineteenth-and early twentieth century sightings, the first known specimen, killed in Shelburne County and consigned to a dealer in Boston, was intercepted by a game warden in Yarmouth on 25 May 1910 (Allen 1916). On 7 June 1957, Scott (1959) collected a female about 5 km south of Lockeport, and he saw another about 15 km south of Lockeport on 22 August of that year; Eric Holdway saw one off Caribou Harbour in the Northumberland Strait on 2 October 1962; and two were seen by Robert Smart from the deck of the ferry Bluenose, which runs between Yarmouth and Bar Harbour, Maine, on 6 July 1969. Since 1970 it has been reported regularly, though in small numbers, from the offshore waters east and south of Nova Scotia in every month except December, the majority of records occurring between June and October. It is probable that the Great Skua may be found off Nova Scotia at any time of year. However, some sightings could be the closely related South Polar Skua (see Remarks). Banding returns suggest that only second-winter immature Skuas migrate to the western Atlantic; birds of other ages winter off western Africa.

Description Length: 51-66 cm. Adults: Dark brown to cinnamon, streaked ochre or rufous, more uniform on the underparts; indistinct blackish brown cap; white wing flashes are large and conspicuous; central tail feathers are pointed but project hardly at all past the rest of the tail feathers. Juveniles: Similar but duller; underparts more tawny. The Great Skua resembles a dark-morph jaeger but may be distinguished by its broader wings, larger white wing-flashes, ponderous wing-beat and heavy body.

Range In the North Atlantic, the Great Skua breeds in Scotland, Iceland and the Faeroes. It winters off western Africa and to a lesser extent in the western Atlantic. Other subspecies breed in New Zealand, Antarctica, the subantarctic islands and southern South America.

Remarks The closely related South Polar Skua, Catharacta maccormicki, breeds in Antarctica and migrates north into the Atlantic and Pacific. Although it has not yet been definitely recorded in Canadian waters, there can be little doubt that it occurs here. Specimens have been collected recently off New England and west Greenland, and on Flemish Cap, some 700 km east of Newfoundland. It can only be a matter of time before the South Polar Skua is added to the Nova Scotia list. It resembles the Great Skua but is smaller overall, with a smaller head and more slender bill. Plumages are highly variable, and it is most easily identified in its light morph, in which the blackish brown upperparts contrast sharply with the pale head and underparts. There is usually no hint of rufous in any plumage.