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Stercorariidae:
The skuas are seabirds in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America. The name skua comes from Faroese, and the island of Skúvoy is renown for its colony of that bird. Jaeger is derived from the German word Jäger, meaning hunter, Skuas nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.
Outside the breeding season they take fish, offal and carrion. Many are partial kleptoparasites, chasing gulls, terns and other seabirds to steal their catches; the larger species also regularly kill and eat adult birds, up to the size of Great Black-backed Gulls. On the breeding grounds they commonly eat lemmings, and the eggs and young of other birds. They are in general medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They have longish bills with a hooked tip, and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls, but have a fleshy cere above the upper mandible. They are strong, acrobatic fliers. |
