the incredable skua

[cateyes]

Hello

I was just wondering if anyone here knew a lot on these birds? I have read up on them and have heard MANY stoyries about how they are the most agreessive birds in the world. BUT the thing i dont understand is they have webbed feet and dont seem all that powerful i mean how much can agression take a bird if it doesnt have the power to back it up? for example ive heard they will kill other birds almost the same size of them and steal food from gennets who are larger birds by beating them into giving up their kill! how are they able to do this which a bird that large? FURthermore ive heard they will attack GREAT black backed gulls also who have a horrible reputation for being very agressive as well! JUSt curious is there anything out there that has been known to prey on skuas? Anywhere i can get footage of these amazing birds in action?

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Cateyes,

Just because their feet are webbed, doesn't mean they're not tough!! - they also have very sharp claws as well. But to kill other birds (which Great and Pomarine Skuas do, at any rate - not Arctic or Long-tailed Skuas [Jaegers]), they mainly use their bill, which is stout, heavy, and very strong.

Their usual tactic is to fly up to a bird (yes, Great Black-backed Gulls included!), and grab it by the wing. This makes the victim stall in mid-air, and drop down onto the sea; the skua then lands on its back and stabs it in the back or on the head, with very powerful blows which can soon kill the other bird.

Michael

[Mike Pennington]

Hello

have heard MANY stoyries about how they are the most agreessive birds in the world. BUT the thing i dont understand is they have webbed feet and dont seem all that powerful i mean how much can agression take a bird if it doesnt have the power to back it up? for example ive heard they will kill other birds almost the same size of them and steal food from gennets who are larger birds by beating them into giving up their kill! how are they able to do this which a bird that large? FURthermore ive heard they will attack GREAT black backed gulls also who have a horrible reputation for being very agressive as well!

Yes, they're aggressive but the most aggressive bird in the world? A lot of this is hype from scaremongering crofters trying to get people to believe that their sheep die because of Great Skuas (aka Bonxies) not poor management!

I'd rather visit a Bonxie nest than a Ural Owl, for example!!

[Edward]

Great Skua is one of my favourite birds and its pot-bellied figure is a common sight in several parts of the country between March and August. In some areas it is easily the most conspicuous bird. I love the way its lazy flight action suddenly transforms with a incredible burst of energy into a helter-skelter chase when it sees something interesting, usually a Puffin or a Kittiwake which it may rob or just eat whole. They are aggressive to people (and sheep, which eat a lot of bird eggs) entering their territories but I've been on the receiving end of a Great Skua attack and numerous Arctic Tern attacks and the tern is just as bad. Great Black-backed Gulls are formidable predators but are hopeless at attacking large intruders to their territories, Arctic Terns could teach them a lot.

I heard a story once, perhaps apocryphal, of the first Great Skua record in the Czech Republic. It was captured and put in an aviary with various other birds because people didn't know what it was and left over night until ornithologists came to ID it. The next day dawned and they found a very replete Great Skua and everything else dead around it. Can anybody confirm or pooh-pooh this story?

I don't know about predators. Here in Iceland the only thing capable of killing a Great Skua would be White-tailed Eagle (Gyr Falcons leave them well alone) but I don't know if this has ever been recorded.

Arctic Skuas will also catch other birds. A friend of mine has a brilliant and gruesome series of one catching and killing a Snipe in Iceland.

E

[cateyes]

ID love to see footage of a skua attacking a great blacked back gull! does this also go both ways though? as in the skua is sometimes the one being attacked by this monster sized gull? furthermore is there ANY known bird that will attack or kill a skua? Or are they just way to fast for that?

[cateyes]

im suprised gry falcons leave skuas alone they are large powerful fast raptors themsleves i woudl think they would take any bird close to their size.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I remember being told a story about Great Skuas (Bonxies) on Fair Isle. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's believable. A guy was staying who wanted to photograph Bonxies and he had gone out onto the hill on the island to do just that. He didn't return for dinner however and people at the bird observatory started to get worried. They went out on the hill and eventually found him, lying unconscious, with a dead Bonxie next to him. They don't normally try to hit people when defending their nest, but I guess this one misjudged.

[Mike Pennington]

I heard a story once, perhaps apocryphal, of the first Great Skua record in the Czech Republic. It was captured and put in an aviary with various other birds because people didn't know what it was and left over night until ornithologists came to ID it. The next day dawned and they found a very replete Great Skua and everything else dead around it. Can anybody confirm or pooh-pooh this story?
E


THis is more or less true. The bird was ringed in Shetland and found in Czech Republic where it was described by it's finders as a web-footed buzzard. As it was clearly not fit it was taken to Prague Zoo and put in the aviary there. The ring was reported via the normal channels, but a few months after the bird was put in the zoo Shetland RG got a letter asking where they should release the bird, as it was terrorising the other birds in the aviary!!

[Mike Pennington]

I remember being told a story about Great Skuas (Bonxies) on Fair Isle. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's believable. A guy was staying who wanted to photograph Bonxies and he had gone out onto the hill on the island to do just that. He didn't return for dinner however and people at the bird observatory started to get worried. They went out on the hill and eventually found him, lying unconscious, with a dead Bonxie next to him. They don't normally try to hit people when defending their nest, but I guess this one misjudged.


This one isn't true, AFAIK, but I have heard it before. I think that there was a visitor to Noss in Shetland once who was found dead on the island. He had a heart attack, but no-one knows if was due to a skua. THis is the root of this story I believe.

Great Skuas actually rarely hit people. I've been hit twice in 18 years in Shetland. They usually hit people who duck, but then forget to duck later, when the skua has readjusted it's sights. They always dive into the wind as well, which makes them easy to predict.

Arctic Skuas (Parasitic Jaegers) are worse IMO. They DO deliberately hit people and they always attack from behind. One very aggressive pair used to nest just north of the observatory on Fair Isle and on occasion a visitor was watched crawling past them to avoid being hit! (I think that's a true story - I certainly belived it when I was told on Fair Isle in 1986).

[Mike Pennington]

ID love to see footage of a skua attacking a great blacked back gull! does this also go both ways though? as in the skua is sometimes the one being attacked by this monster sized gull? furthermore is there ANY known bird that will attack or kill a skua? Or are they just way to fast for that?

Great Skuas are not fast - just powerful and fearless.

In Shetland, the only bird that will attack Great Skuas is Great Skuas!! Martin Heubeck in Scottish Bird in 1992 noted seeing successful attacks by skuas on skuas. GBB Gulls don't attack skuas, but they do compete for the same food - I'd back the skua any day and I know of several instances of GBBs being killed by Great Skuas.

[cateyes]

where have u read of these instances? IS there any gull out there other then other skuas that are just as agressive and powerful as a skua? its just i watched this show on great black backed gulls and they seemed like ruthless predators im suprised a skua can kill such a huge bird! do you know of any web sites i can read more on skuas or the presant subject? some things in nature just confuse me! I THINK a lot of information in books is also not that valid though if this is where a lot of info is comming from. For example in this book i have it states that kelp gulls will kill birds the size of pigeons. This makes me kinda skeptical because kelp gulls are the same size and look almost EXACTLy like herring gulls and we all know herring gulls arent that formatable for example while feeding a bunch of pigeons frys when i was by the shore herring gulls would grab a pigeon by the back of their neck and make them drop the fry. WHY wouldnt the gull just kill the pigeon? probably because they arent equipped to do the job. Furthermore i read in my book that great horned owls have been known to kill swans. This also i find hard to beleive the fact that a great horned owl is 5 pounds at max and a swan is around 26 pounds! Furthermore swans themselves are suppose to be able to seriously injure a man with their wings. Its just so many things ive read dont seem all that possible and makes me wonder how correct information in books really are. Just a statement not trying to say that its always the case just that how do we know when things are just fibs?

[cateyes]

OHHHH please let me correct that in the book it says kelp gulls are known to kill birds the size of pigeons but i meant to say it says kelp gulls are known to kill birds up to the size of geese! LOL (even though id have a hard time believing the pigeon)

[tom mckinney]

I've seen Bonxies do some awesome things. On Lewis in May this year, I saw one just plummet into the centre of an Arctic Tern colony. The Terns went insane and the Bonxie thought it best to get out quick. Another disgusting thing was when I saw a Kittiwake literally get turned inside out by a Bonxie just metres from our boat; the little girl sitting next to me was devastated!!!

[Mike Pennington]

Books? Depends on your book, really. The Bumper Book of Amazing Facts is not as authorative as the Handbook of the Birds of the World.

That said, I see nothing in the list by cateyes that sounds unreasonable, bar the bit about swans breaking human limbs, which I believe to be an urban myth.

Yes, Bonxies do some gruesome things - but they have to live.

Incidentally, it would appear that Great Skuas (Bonxies) are causing so many problems in the North Atlantic because they are newly arrived from the South Atlantic (possibly within the last 500 years) and they are revelling in the huge amounts of free food available. Down south, skuas scavenge around the edge of seabird colonies, but down there they are on the edge of dense penguin and albatross colonies and you don't want to be a bonxie messing with them. Up here, the Kittiwakes and Puffins must seem terribly wimpy to the Bonxies.

[cateyes]

mike just curious what did you mean by you dont want to be a bonxie messing with albatross and penguins? as in they defend themselves agressivly?

[Mike Pennington]

mike just curious what did you mean by you dont want to be a bonxie messing with albatross and penguins? as in they defend themselves agressivly?

Albatrosses and penguins in the South Atlantic breed in very dense colonies and the skuas are only allowed to scavenge around the outside. Any skua entering the colony runs the gauntlet of many, sharp beaks weilded by birds considerabley larger than they are. No contest.

Similarly, I've never seen a Bonxie up here enter the Gannet colony. They are aggressive, but they're bullies and, like all bullies, they only attack when they know the odds are stacked in their favour.

[Edward]

That said, I see nothing in the list by cateyes that sounds unreasonable, bar the bit about swans breaking human limbs, which I believe to be an urban myth.


I would have thought so too but we've been having a discussion on our Icelandic web group about aggressive Whooper Swans (one member saw one chasing a ewe and two lambs for a couple of hundred metres last week). 20 years ago one ornithologist here witnessed a Whooper Swan killing a sheep, breaking a rib and causing the sheep to bleed to death. So perhaps it's not an urban myth, despite sounding like one.

E

[David Ball]

My most impressive memory of Great Skua is the first one I found in Bedfordshire, at Stewartby Lake (in 1985, I think). It turned up in winter, early afternoon in very dull weather with quite light winds, and on returning for another look near dusk, it was sitting, completely on its own in the middle of the lake, with all of the thousands of gulls which normally roosted there (of all the common species, including quite a few Great Blacks), circling overhead giving alarm calls, and none daring to land!

[Michael Frankis]

Hi David,

Welcome to BirdForum!

That sounds impressive, and interesting that the gulls responded like that - occasionally I've seen them (particularly Kittiwakes) panic a bit, but mostly, Bonxies and big gulls mix pretty freely when they're all following a trawler (or boatload of birders putting out 'chum'). Times like this, the gulls show no fear of them at all, which is why I think perhaps how Great Skuas can hunt them successfully, because they've perhaps not had time to evolve "big skua awareness"

I've also seen a Bonxie attack a Sooty Shearwater, unsuccessfully. The shearwater dived each time the Bonxie grabbed for it, but although grabbed repeatedly each time the shearwater surfaced, the skua never managed to get a successful hold & kill. Maybe Sooties, having evolved alongside big skuas in the southern hemisphere, have better escape tactics?



Incidentally, it would appear that Great Skuas (Bonxies) are causing so many problems in the North Atlantic because they are newly arrived from the South Atlantic (possibly within the last 500 years)
Hi Mike,

Agreed they're probably recent additions to the North Atlantic, but longer ago than 500 years, as the Vikings had a distinct name for them - a minimum of 1000-1200 years, probably more

Michael

[Mike Pennington]

I would have thought so too but we've been having a discussion on our Icelandic web group about aggressive Whooper Swans (one member saw one chasing a ewe and two lambs for a couple of hundred metres last week). 20 years ago one ornithologist here witnessed a Whooper Swan killing a sheep, breaking a rib and causing the sheep to bleed to death. So perhaps it's not an urban myth, despite sounding like one.

E

Yes, the first pair in Shetland also terrorised sheep and the RSPB appointed a warden to watch them! Still think there is a difference between humans and sheep - usually 8-0

[Mike Pennington]

Hi Mike,

Agreed they're probably recent additions to the North Atlantic, but longer ago than 500 years, as the Vikings had a distinct name for them - a minimum of 1000-1200 years, probably more

Michael

Hi Michael

I thought part of the argument was the fact that the Vikings didn't have a name for them. Interested to know what the name was and the source of information.

Mike

[cateyes]

wow so many amazing facts i wish i could see these birds but we dont have any here
:( i was just wondering has anyone eever whitnessed a skua trying to rob or kill another bird and the other bird actually fighting back thus making the skuas attempts unsuccessfull? it just seems like so many birds are just to easy to be victums!

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Mike,

Skuvur (i.e., skua) for Great Skua, as opposed to kjoi for Arctic Skua (modern Icelandic Kjói, Faroese Kjógvi, Danish Kjove).

In modern Nordic languages, Great Skua has Skua-cognate names only in Icelandic (Skúmur) and Faroese (Skúgvur), and not in Danish (Stor kjove) or Norwegian (Storjo), where the species wasn't known until modern ornithology gave it a name based on stor (big) + kjoi. The name skuvur is thought to have originated with the Faroese Vikings, circa 800 AD.

English doesn't have a kjoi-cognate name for any of the skuas, except for the Shetland local Shooie for Arctic Skua (is this what you call them??). Apparently kjoi is cognate with Old Norse tjuv (theif, thieve, steal; tyve in modern Danish)

Interesting that modern Norwegian for Arctic Skua is Tyvjo, or 'Thieving thief'

Michael

[Mike Pennington]

Hi Mike,

Skuvur (i.e., skua) for Great Skua, as opposed to kjoi for Arctic Skua (modern Icelandic Kjói, Faroese Kjógvi, Danish Kjove).

English doesn't have a kjoi-cognate name for any of the skuas, except for the Shetland local Shooie for Arctic Skua (is this what you call them??).
Michael

It's the age of the word 'skuvur' I was interested in, as Furness' book on the Skuas suggests it is only known in Faroe as far back as the 15th century.

There again, reading it just now, I see he gets the use and derivation of the name 'skooie' wrong as well (all on page 30).

On Unst, or north Unst anyway, Arctic Skuas are still known as 'shooies' and Great Skuas are 'skooies', obviously derived from the Norse/Scandinavian words 'kjoi' and 'skuvur'.

In the rest of Shetland the Arctic Skua is 'skootie alan' (the word 'skoot' meaning excrement, in the belief that what other seabirds dropped when chased by a skua was excrement not food), while Great Skuas are 'bonxies' (a word of uncertain etymology).

Mike

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Mike,

as Furness' book on the Skuas suggests it is only known in Faroe as far back as the 15th century
Doesn't mean a lot! - plenty of other common English bird names aren't known even that far back in literature, yet the spread and variation of cognate words indicates they must be much older than documented usage. The 800 AD figure is suggested by Lockwood in the Oxford Book of British Bird Names.

Michael

[Edward]

Hi Mike,

Skuvur (i.e., skua) for Great Skua, as opposed to kjoi for Arctic Skua (modern Icelandic Kjói, Faroese Kjógvi, Danish Kjove).

In modern Nordic languages, Great Skua has Skua-cognate names only in Icelandic (Skúmur) and Faroese (Skúgvur), and not in Danish (Stor kjove) or Norwegian (Storjo), where the species wasn't known until modern ornithology gave it a name based on stor (big) + kjoi. The name skuvur is thought to have originated with the Faroese Vikings, circa 800 AD.

English doesn't have a kjoi-cognate name for any of the skuas, except for the Shetland local Shooie for Arctic Skua (is this what you call them??). Apparently kjoi is cognate with Old Norse tjuv (theif, thieve, steal; tyve in modern Danish)

Interesting that modern Norwegian for Arctic Skua is Tyvjo, or 'Thieving thief'

Michael

Fabulous, a thread combining birding and Nordic philology, as good as it gets!!
The university dictionary in Iceland gives the first record of the word "skúmur" in Icelandic as mid-17th C and the first record of "kjói" as late-16th C. Just for sake of completeness, Icelandic calls the other two WP skuas fjallkjói and ískjói. Can you work out which is which, Michael?

I went out on the peninsula south-west of Reykjavík yesterday and saw plenty of Great Skuas, all of which behaving impeccably. i.e just flying around lazily minding their own business. Arctic Skuas were very common on the peninsula and were far more boisterous, harassing Arctic Terns and Kittiwakes and scattering several gull flocks. One even made a swoop for me. Nearly all the Arctics I saw yesterday were dark phase, that phase being commoner in southern Iceland. The highlight of the day though was when we noticed one of the seven Arctic Skuas at one site was noticeably smaller than the others, and closer inspection revealed a second-summer Long-tailed Skua, only the second I've seen!

E

[Mike Pennington]

Fabulous, a thread combining birding and Nordic philology, as good as it gets!!
The university dictionary in Iceland gives the first record of the word "skúmur" in Icelandic as mid-17th C and the first record of "kjói" as late-16th C. Just for sake of completeness, Icelandic calls the other two WP skuas fjallkjói and ískjói. Can you work out which is which, Michael?

E

Not the Michael you intended.

fjallkjói and ískjói - I'd guess that the first is Long-tailed (fjall is a plateau isn't it, where they breed in southern Norway at least) and the latter is Pom (assuming is = ice and as Poms breed further north).

Interesting to see the proven age of the Icelandic words. I think that while Lockwood guesses that the word skuvur was used by Vikings 1000-1200 years ago, the written proof for the existence of the word does not go as far back.

Mike

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Edward,

Sounds a good day . . . but still no Ískjói for your Íslands list? ;)

Seems the name has changed though - my book gives it as Kólfkjói


The university dictionary in Iceland gives the first record of the word "skúmur" in Icelandic as mid-17th C and the first record of "kjói" as late-16th C
More proof that the first date of the name doesn't necessarily prove the first occurrence of the species!

Michael

[Mike D]

Just as an aside and while on the subject of Bonxies - I was working at RSPB Strumpshaw reception on Sunday afternoon, 27th and a Bonxie flew over, persued by 4 or 5 Lesser BB Gulls! This sighting (by myself and another member of this forum) was later confirmed by another 3 independent birders.
For those who don't know where Strumpshaw is, it's about 10 miles East of Norwich City, Norfolk.
What was it doing there at this time of year - faulty GPS?

Later the same afternoon I was watching 3 Swallowtail butterflies on one of our Buddlias - funny old world!

[cateyes]

wow that is strange so i guess skuas do get chased? just curious what was the reason the Lesser bb gulls were chasing the bonxie? did any of them get close to it?

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Just as an aside and while on the subject of Bonxies - I was working at RSPB Strumpshaw reception on Sunday afternoon, 27th and a Bonxie flew over, persued by 4 or 5 Lesser BB Gulls! This sighting (by myself and another member of this forum) was later confirmed by another 3 independent birders.
For those who don't know where Strumpshaw is, it's about 10 miles East of Norwich City, Norfolk.
What was it doing there at this time of year - faulty GPS?

Later the same afternoon I was watching 3 Swallowtail butterflies on one of our Buddlias - funny old world!

Hi Mike,

I noticed that record on Birdguides - I bet that's probably the first skua on the reserve list. Skuas certainly migrate over land quite a bit but aren't often noticed. There's been quite a bit of bad weather of late so I guess that might have pushed it further south than usual but failed breeders will probably already be on the move by now.

[Edward]

Not the Michael you intended.

fjallkjói and ískjói - I'd guess that the first is Long-tailed (fjall is a plateau isn't it, where they breed in southern Norway at least) and the latter is Pom (assuming is = ice and as Poms breed further north).

Mike

Exactly, Mike, full marks. Fjall simply means mountain and is of course descriptive of their breeding habitat. The first one I saw was a one of a pair attempting to breed for the first time in Iceland last year, up in wide open moorland, perfect habitat for them except for the lack of lemmings. The breeding attempt failed and it's thought that the nest was robbed by Arctic Skuas which are common there.

And Michael F, still no Pomarine Skua on my Iceland list or any other list for that matter. It's a scarce passage migrant which once arrived in massive numbers (2,000 + in one area on the same day) due to extraordinary weather conditions. Otherwise it's jsut luck or hours of seawatching (which I've tried!)

Cateyes, as for the Lesser Black-backed Gulls chasing the skua, it's not that unusual considering that much smaller birds chase away large intruders to their territory. They were probably just ensuring that this predator left their nesting area. And five against one isn't exacty fair odds. Bullying is common in the bird world.

E

[lastpubrunner]

Skuas rarely, (if ever) attack Fulmars - knowing that they can 'spit' a noxious oil at them which will end up the death of the Skua.