ANIMALS – BIRDS – SEABIRDS – BROWN SKUA (STERCORARIUS ANTARCTICUS)

Animals - Birds - Seabirds

Brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus)

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Chordata
Class : Aves
Order : Charadriiiformes
Family : Stercoriidae
Genus : Stercorarius
Species : S. Antarcticus

Description:

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 further 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.

It feeds on fish (often via kleptoparasitism), other birds, small mammals, eggs and carrion.

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. It is 52–64 cm (20–25 in) in length, 126–160 cm (50–63 in) in wingspan and has a body mass of 1.2–2.18 kg (2.6–4.8 lb). S. a. hamiltoni measured on Gough Island, weighed an average of 1.43 kg (3.2 lb) in 9 males and 1.65 kg (3.6 lb) in 9 females. S. a. lönnbergi measured in the Chatham Islands weighed an average of 1.73 kg (3.8 lb) in 30 males and an average of 1.93 kg (4.3 lb) in 32 females. The latter is the highest colony mean body mass for any living species of shorebird.

Binomial Name:

Name : Stercorarius antarcticus
Taxonomist : René Primevère Lesson (Rochefort - France)
Year : 1831
Subspecies : 3 (Antarticus, Hamiltoni, Ionnbergi)
Synonyms : Catharacta antarctica

Conservation Status by IUCN:

Status : Least Concern

Has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as evaluated but not qualified for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, near threatened, or (prior to 2001) conservation dependent.

Philatelic Issues

2008 – Uruguay – Stamp 1 of 2, from Spring Series

Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: October 7th, 2008
Printed: 10.000 Copies
Type: Stamp from Series of 2 Stamps
Value: UYP 20

Stamp: Rectangular
Size: 35 mm. x 22 mm.
Perforation: Circular
Gum: Water Activated