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Brown Skua
Sign in to saveAlso known as Stercorarius antarcticus, Antarctic Skua, Subantarctic Skua, Southern Great Skua, Southern Skua, Hākoakoa, Southern skua, Antarctic skua
species of bird
Species
brown skua
Species
- PhylumChordata
- ClassAves
- OrderCharadriiformes
- FamilyStercorariidae
via
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Stercorarius
- Image
- Catharacta antarctica.png
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via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
The brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus), also known as the Antarctic skua, Subantarctic skua, southern great skua, southern skua, or hākoakoa (Māori), is a large seabird that breeds in the subantarctic and Antarctic zones and moves farther north when not breeding. Its taxonomy is highly complex and a matter of dispute, with some splitting it into two or three species: Falkland skua (S. antarcticus), Tristan skua (S. hamiltoni), and subantarctic skua (S. lönnbergi). To further confuse, it hybridizes with both the south polar and Chilean skuas, and the entire group has been considered to be a subspecies of the great skua, a species otherwise restricted to the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Brown Skua” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.