just breathtaking! what a privilege to know your work...
Always room for more in the SAS (Skua Appreciation Society), Adam - But these are seriously good field drawings Andy, no one would believe you had only seen one skua before, such is the mastery of the bird's form - just perfectly done. The terns are bouyant and glowing with light, transporting the viewer to the sunny seaside. Hobby's a beaut - great shape and a lovely tale. One word of advice about looking up whilst young'uns are enjoying a wee - one's feet tend to get, erm - sprayed - as my too delight in reminding me as often as possible.
Just the one and same, Sid. But the Am name is one I can get to grips with, the bird being the ultimate klepto-parasite - and I aways had a penchant for Jaeger as a name . . . . unlike 'loon' . . ., which just sounds abusive.Sid, Parasitic Jaegers are what you bizarrely (!) call Arctic Skuas on your side on the pond!! Doesn't slip off the tongue for me I'm afraid.....
Nice one Phil - any chance of putting up a phonetic for this, please?I'm very cheered up with all this!
Wydrzyk Ostrosterny is Polish for this Jaeger.
Still the same animal, Colleen; the arctic skua (pj) has two long central retrices which are regularly held together forming the most graceful of back-ends. These tail feathers can vary markedly in length from individual to individual and are absent from juvenile birds;I looked these up in my bird book for Western States and they show the the P Jaeger and Skua as different birds, the J has a couple of longer tail feathers.
I'm not sure I've ever seen either one.