10

Brown Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) Alternate name(s): "Antarctic Skua", "Great Skua", "Subantarctic Skua", "Southern Skua", "Southern Great Skua", "hakoakoa" Size: 50-58 cm; wing span 1.25-1.4 m Body mass: 1.27 kg (male, avg), 1.42 kg (female, avg) Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.46-0.58 (male), 0.51-0.65 (female)

Australia: Family Group 10 Family Group 10 Table Brown Skua South Polar Skua Arctic Jaeger Pomarine Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Pacific Gull Kelp Gull Silver Gull Crested Tern Lesser Crested Tern Caspian Tern Australian Tern Gull-billed Tern White-fronted Tern Black-naped Tern Roseate Tern Antarctic Tern Arctic Tern Common Tern Little Tern Fairy Tern Whiskered Tern White-winged Black Tern Grey Ternlet White Tern Sooty Tern Bridled Tern Aleutian Tern Common Noddy Black Noddy Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Brown Skuas are medium-sized pelagic birds. They have the size and shape of a large gull and an all dark-brown plumage, with some buff streaking at the neck and on the upperwings. The strong bill is dark-grey and slightly hooked; the legs and feet are also dark-grey. In flight, white patches can be seen on the upperwing at the base of the primary flight feathers. Juvenile birds do not have any streaking yet. Twitcher's tip Compared to South Polar Skuas, the Brown Skua is bigger, more massive and also darker. In addition, it has a more massive, deeper bill.

Taxonomy, classification See Brown Skua at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Brown Skua is available HERE . Although found mostly on the oceans of the southern hemisphere, Brown Skuas are a global bird species that is present on the open seas of both the northern and southern hemispheres. Around Australia only race "lonnbergi" is found, which populates the southern oceans and coastal waters. They reach the Australian coastline anywhere from about the Hunter estuary, NSW, around the South coast of the continent to about Perth (in some cases even Carnarvon), WA. Brown Skuas, race "lonnbergi", breed on offshore islands, such as e.g. Macquarie Island.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "lonnbergi" B. Hensen reports spotting Brown Skuas, race "lonnbergi", off Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean in December 1993. M. Mearns reports spotting Brown Skuas, race "lonnbergi", in Antarctica in January 2005. We spotted a Brown Skua, race "lonnbergi", on a pelagic to the edge of the continental shelf, 22 nautical miles (40 km) from Terrigal, NSW, in July 2013. J. Greaves reports spotting a Brown Skua, race "lonnbergi", a few km off the south-western coast of WA at Flinders Bay, Augusta, WA, in May 2015. In January 2025, C. Pears found Brown Skuas, race "lonnbergi", at several locations near the Antarctic Peninsula.

Photos

Race "lonnbergi"

ADULT

PAIR

Close-up view of a pair of Brown Skuas at their nest (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Sex unknown

Close-up lateral view of a resting Brown Skua (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Lateral view of a Brown Skua (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Lateral view of a Brown Skua floating on coastal water (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Flinders Bay, Augusta, WA, May 2015]

Adult Brown Skua protecting its nest, in the process displaying its characteristic underwing pattern (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

Squabbling bunch of Brown Skuas (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Sep - Feb

Eggs: 2

Incubation period: 28 - 32 days

Fledging age: 55 - 60 days

In rare cases 3 eggs are laid. The young are semi-precocial.

Nest building: ?

Incubation: Female & male

Dependent care: Female & male

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Scrape, Basket

Material: Grass stems, moss

Height above ground: N/A

Unlined nests are scrapes; however, when lined, nests form a basket shape.

Close-up frontal view of a Brown Skua on its nest shielded by tussocks of reedy grass (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Close-up lateral view of a Brown Skua near its nest (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Close-up view of a pair of Brown Skuas at their nest (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 74 x 52 mm

Colour: Stone-brown, with slightly darker brown speckles

Shape: Long pyriform

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Migratory/nomadic

Elementary unit: Solitary

Brown Skuas tend to patrol breeding colonies of prey species, here a King Penguin colony
(photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Near-dorsal view of a Brown Skua looking for prey in a a King Penguin breeding colony (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Preying on the weak and unwary, Brown Skuas regularly have stand-offs with potential prey species, such as in this case a Gentoo Penguin (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Stand-off between a Brown Skua and a Gentoo Penguin; note the Brown Skua's deep bill profile, which clearly distinguishes it from a South Polar Skua (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Brown Skuas thrive in cold, inclement weather - here one seen during snowfall (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Brown Skuas thrive in cold, inclement weather - here one seen in front of a rockface during snowfall
(photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Food, Diet

Next to fresh kills, Brown Skuas also feed on carrion.

Near-frontal view of a Brown Skua at a seal carcass (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[January 2025]

Northern Giant-Petrel, centre, and three Brown Skuas feeding on a seal carcass (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.