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Arctic Skuas are medium-sized seabirds. Both sexes look alike, but they can both come in different morphologies, pale, intermediate and dark. In addition, they have slightly different breeding and eclipse plumages. During the breeding season dark morphology Arctic Skuas have an all dark-brown front, a near-black very-dark brown cap, wings and tail, and a yellowish-brown nape of the neck. In eclipse they show some lighter-grey barring on the front, mostly on the throat, belly and vent. Pale morphology Arctic Skuas, in breeding and eclipse plumage, have a light-grey neck and front, down to the undertail coverts, with a mid-greyish chest band. Their cap is very dark grey, while the back is mid-grey, with dark-grey wings and tail feathers. Outside the breeding season they show some grey barring on the sides of the neck, flanks, vent and a clearly visible barred chest band. The intermediate morphology sits in between these two, with more brown to rufous hues in their plumage. All morphologies have silvery-white wing "flashes" (thin longitudinal edges on the primaries) which become less conspicuous in eclipse. At any time of the year, the tail streamers can be either present or missing. The irises of all Arctic Skuas are dark. The slender, slightly hooked bill is black. Also the legs and webbed feet are black. Juveniles are greyish, with birds of the dark morphology a bit darker than those of pale morphology. The front is heavily barred, while the neck is streaked and the wings are vermiculated grey with lighter-grey edges. The head still lacks the characteristic dark cap.

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 Arctic Jaeger is available HERE .

Arctic Jaegers (Arctic Skuas) are a strongly migratory pelagic species. Their breeding range is circumpolar, on dry tundra, spanning North America, northern Eurasia and islands in between, such as e.g. the southern coastal fringe of Greenland, all of Iceland and smaller islands towards Scotland, as well as the Aleutian islands. They overwinter on the southern oceans, around southern South America, southern Africa and also around Australia and New Zealand (but not Antarctica). While most of the migration happens at sea, there are some migration routes across land. In North America, such a route passes over the Great Lakes. In Eurasia, such routes exists from northern Russia southward, either via the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, or via the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.

In Europe Arctic Skuas are breeding migrants to the islands off and beyond Scotland, including Iceland, and the coastal fringe of Scandinavia, northward of the latitude of Oslo, Norway, on both sides (North Atlantic and Baltic Sea coastline). Their breeding grounds extend eastward along the Kola peninsula and north-western Russia. Arctic Skuas overwinter along the western Mediterranean coastline, from about southern Portugal in the West to Sicily, Italy, in the East. Occasionally they can be found along migratory routes, e.g. from the Adriatic Sea near Venice, Italy, straight towards the southern Baltic Sea or from the Aegean Sea and the western Black Sea coastline to the north-western Russian coastline.

J. Pires reports spotting Arctic Skuas off Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, in October 2022.

I. Chisnall found Arctic Skuas during a pelagic trip off the Isles of Scilly, England, in August 2023.

Arctic Skuas (Parasitic Jaegers) were previously seen by us in Australia and in Arabia.