The great skua are swift, strong and manoeuverable fiiers.
Photos: Jim MacKenzie
Skuas are ‘piratical’ birds, gaining much of their food by stealing it from other sea birds. Skuas are gull-like in many respects, with long, pointed wings, short legs, and webbed feet. However, skuas have a strongly hooked beak, elongated central tail feathers, and a generally dark coloration, although some birds are of a lighter-coloured phase.
Skuas also display a very different behaviour from gulls. Skuas are swift, strong, and manoeuverable fliers. They aerially harass other sea birds until they drop or disgorge fish that they have caught, which is then nimbly retrieved and eaten by the skuas. They are kleptoparasites - piratical feeders that rob other birds of their prey. They are also predators of small mammals, birds, their young and their eggs as well as taking fish and carrion.