Parasitic Jaeger
Stercorarius parasiticus
Summary 7
The Parasitic Jaeger, also known as the Arctic Skua or Parasitic Skua, (Stercorarius parasiticus) is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae.
Taxon biology 8
The Arctic skua is an elegant bird, but don't let looks fool you. Just like all other skuas, they chase other seabirds until they drop their food or disgorge it. Sometimes these agile birds even manage to catch the loot in the air. The bird picks on gulls, terns and auks in particular. Sometimes, several arctic skuas will work together to steal the food from a victim. Their diet does not only consist of stolen food. In the nesting colonies, they go after young birds, eggs, lemmings, mice, insects and carrion.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Andrew, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/71297346@N00/2702009004
- (c) Per Harald Olsen (Perhols at en.wikipedia), some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Arctic_skua_at_svalbard_norway.jpg/460px-Arctic_skua_at_svalbard_norway.jpg
- Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Stercorarius_parasiticus1.jpg/460px-Stercorarius_parasiticus1.jpg
- Bowman, Tim, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/21087.jpg
- (c) Wikimedia Commons, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Arcticskua2.jpg
- (c) Wikimedia Commons, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Arcticskua.jpg
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stercorarius_parasiticus
- (c) Copyright Ecomare, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/22758533
