Brown Skua Stercorarius antarcticus Scientific name definitions

Brown Skua comprises several taxa along the coasts of the Southern Ocean that have been reorganized several times. Highly variable plumage and hybridization between Brown Skua and other species of southern skua has rendered identifications tenuous in some circumstances. This species forages both on fish when at sea and on carrion, eggs, and vulnerable birds when on land. Skuas are notoriously brutish creatures, both because of their catholic diets and the piratic methods by which they obtain food.