Antarctic Skua
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| Antarctic Skua | ||||||||||
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Antarctic Skua |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Stercorarius maccormicki | ||||||||||
| Saunders , 1893 |
The Antarctic skua ( Stercorarius maccormicki , Syn .: Catharacta maccormicki ) or Südpolarskua is a species of bird from the sku family (Stercorariidae).
Appearance
The adult birds 50–58 cm in size and 1–2 kg in weight are dark brown on the belly, and the head and neck areas are light brown. The back plumage is colored black-brown to black. The color of the bird's beak and legs is black.
call
The sounds of the birds are reminiscent of yapping or screeching.
habitat
The Antarctic kuas live most of the year on the coasts of the arctic tundra . When rearing young from December, they fly south to the Antarctic coast . This trip takes about five months.
nutrition
The bird is a skilled hunter and prey on crabs, cephalopods and fish in the sea. On land he hunts other breeding birds, up to the size of a penguin, as well as their brood. He hunts alone or in small groups.
Way of life
The couples live together in monogamy for life.
Brood
The breeding area is located on the Antarctic Peninsula and its offshore islands. The breeding takes place from October to December. It often breeds in the midst of colonies of penguins , petrels or gulls . The parent birds bitterly defend their large breeding grounds against other conspecifics. The nest, which is built on the bare rock, is padded with remains of bones, feathers and plants. When the two green-brown spotted eggs hatch, both partners take turns. The young hatch after a breeding period of 28 to 30 days, and it often happens that only the stronger of the two young birds fledged after about 20 days. The food of the young birds does not differ from that of the adult birds. After the breeding season, the parent birds move back to the Southern Ocean up to the equator. The adult birds then move out to sea for up to three years, with the young birds going ashore for the first time after five years on the high seas to breed themselves.
Hazards and protective measures
The IUCN classifies the Antarktikskua as Least Concern .
swell
- Jiří Felix (eds.), Alena Čepická, Jaromír Knotek, Libuše Knotková: Wildlife of Australia and the Antarctic. Translated from the Czech by Ingeborg Šestáková. Arita, Prague 1986, pp. 309-310.
- Christopher M. Perrins (Ed.): The FSVO encyclopedia birds of the world. Translated from the English by Einhard Bezzel. BLV, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2004, ISBN 978-3-405-16682-3 , pp. 270-273 (title of the original English edition: The New Encyclopedia Of Birds. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2003).
Web links
- Catharacta maccormicki in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2012. Accessed October 23, 2012th