Brown Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus lonnbergi) 8 March 2018. Gold Harbour, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, GS
Brown Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus lonnbergi)
Often called the Subantarctic Brown Skua, this race (S. a. lonnbergi) is larger, darker and less heavily marked than Falkland Island birds. This is an adult showing trace of pale forehead blaze. Juveniles lack pale streaking and appear uniformly dark. Taxonomy is complex but Clements, SACC, IOC, HBW, and H&M all recognize three races, each in a different group. In the past, the large skuas were placed in the genus Catharacta and HBW still uses that older classification. Canon PowerShot SX50 HS.

References:

Furness, R.W. (2017). Brown Skua (Catharacta antarctica). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/53956 on 24 February 2017).

Hemmings, A.D. 2013. Subantarctic skua. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz

Higgins, P.J.; Davies, S.J.J.F. (eds.) 1996. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds. Vol. 3. Snipe to Pigeons. Oxford University Press: Melbourne.

Olsen, K. M. and Larsson, H. 1997. Skuas and Jaegers. Yale Univ. Press.

Shirihai, H. (2007) A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife. The Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean. 2nd edition. A&C Black, London.
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