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South Polar Skuas are medium-sized pelagic birds. They have the size and shape of a large gull. Their plumage comes in two types of morphology: dark and light (there are intermediate forms too). Dark morphology South Polar Skuas have dark brown-grey faces, upperwings, tail, belly and vent. The cap, neck and chest are mostly buff-coloured, with some dark streaking. Light morphology South Polar Skuas have somewhat lighter upperwings than dark-morphology specimens and the entire head and front are buff-coloured. Belly and vent are buff with dark streaking. Both morphologies have some buff streaking on the upperwings. The bill is dark-grey and hooked, the legs and feet are also dark-grey. In flight, prominent white patches can be seen on the upperwing at the base of the primary flight feathers. Juveniles have streaked heads and necks.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to Brown Skuas, the South Polar Skua is smaller and lighter. The white flashes on the upperwings are more prominent than those of a Brown Skuas and they have a less massive bill.

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 South Polar Skua is available HERE .

The range of the South Polar Skua encompasses the Antarctic continent, the southern oceans and parts of the northern oceans, plus coastal waters of southern continents. Although found mostly on the oceans of the southern hemisphere, South Polar Skuas are also present regularly on both the East and West coast of North America.

South Polar Skuas rarely reach the Australian coastline. If they do, they can be seen anywhere South of the tropic of Capricorn, including many southern Australian offshore islands. South Polar Skuas breed on the Antarctic coastline.

B. Hensen reports spotting South Polar Skuas on the Windmill Islands in Antarctica in December 1993.

M. Eaton reports finding a South Polar Skua 22 NM off Southport, Gold Coast, QLD, in April 2018.

In January 2025, C. Pears found South Polar Skuas near the Antarctic Peninsula.