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An aerial apex predator, the great skua is an also an aggressive kleptoparasite, deliberately harassing birds as large as gannets to steal a free meal. It also readily kills and eats smaller birds such as puffins. Great skuas show little to no fear of humans – anybody getting close to the nest will be repeatedly dive-bombed by the territorial ...
The eggs and chicks of other seabirds, primarily penguins, are an important food source for most skua species during the nesting season. [6] In the southern oceans and Antarctica region, some skua species (especially the south polar skua) will readily scavenge carcasses at breeding colonies of both penguins and pinnipeds. Skuas will also kill ...
A royal penguin on Macquarie Island.. This is a list of the bird species recorded on Macquarie Island.The avifauna of Macquarie Island include a total of 74 species, of which 6 have been introduced.
The most likely explanation is extensive hybridization between the great and one species of lesser skuas, which resulted in a hybrid population that eventually evolved into a distinct species, the pomarine jaeger; or alternatively between the pomarine and a species of Southern Hemisphere skua, with the great skua being the hybrid offspring ...
Brown skua eyeing a king penguin carcass. This is the heaviest species of skua and rivals the largest gulls, the great black-backed gull and glaucous gull, as the heaviest species in the shorebird order although not as large in length or wingspan. [2]
Small for a skua, the parasitic jaeger measures 41–48 cm (16–19 in) in length, 107–125 cm (42–49 in) in wingspan and weighs 300–650 g (11 oz – 1 lb 7 oz). [8] [9] The tail streamer of the breeding adult accounts for about 7 cm (3 in) of their length. Light-morph adults have a brown back, mainly white underparts and dark primary wing ...
This is the smallest of the skua family at 38–58 cm (15–23 in), depending on season and age. However up to 29 cm (11 in) of its length can be made up by the tail which may include the 15 cm (5.9 in) tail streamers of the summer adult.
Great frigatebirds (Fregata minor) chasing a red-footed booby (Sula sula) to steal its food. Kleptoparasitism (originally spelt clepto-parasitism, [1] [2] meaning "parasitism by theft") is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another.