Stercorarius maccormicki

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Bibliography

View Printer Friendly

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	CHARADRIIFORMES	STERCORARIIDAE

Scientific Name:

Stercorarius maccormicki

Species Authority:

(Saunders, 1893)

Common Name/s:

English	–	South Polar Skua
French	–	Labbe de McCormick

Taxonomic Notes:

Catharacta skua, C. lonnbergi, C. antarctica and C. maccormicki (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), cross-regional species, are retained as separate species contra Christidis and Boles (1994) and Turbott (1990) who include lonnbergi and antarctica as subspecies of C. skua and AERC TAC (2003) who include C. maccormicki as a subspecies of C. skua. We accept the view in Chu et al. (2009) that Catharacta is best merged in Stercorarius.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Published:

2012

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Butchart, S. & Symes, A.

Contributor/s:

Justification:
This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size may be moderately small to large, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

History:

2009	–	Least Concern
2008	–	Least Concern
2004	–	Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	The South Polar Skua breeds throughout the Antarctic coast, especially in the Ross Sea rea. It undergoes a transequatorial migration, wintering as far north as Alaska (USA) and Greenland (to Denmark).
Countries:	Native: Antarctica; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Barbados; Brazil; Canada; Chile; Costa Rica; Dominica; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); French Guiana; Guadeloupe; Japan; Maldives; Martinique; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of; Montserrat; Mozambique; Namibia; New Zealand; Panama; Peru; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Seychelles; South Africa; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; United States Vagrant: Australia; Bermuda; Comoros; Ecuador; Egypt; Fiji; Greenland; India; Indonesia; Israel; Jordan; Kenya; Mauritius; Oman; Portugal; Somalia; Sri Lanka; Yemen Present - origin uncertain: Bouvet Island; Guatemala; Palau; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	The population is placed in the band 10,000-19,999 individuals, equating to 6,667-13,333 mature individuals, rounded here to 6,000-15,000 mature individuals.
Population Trend:	Stable

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	The South Polar Skua breeds on relatively snow-free areas in Antartica (del Hoyo et al. 1992). It is usually reliant on fish (Pietz 1987), with predation on penguins being of variable importance (del Hoyo et al. 1992). It can, however, subside exclusively on penguins where a breeding colony is associated to a penguin rookery (Trillmich 1978, Young and Miller 1999). It is a trans-equatorial migrant, wintering in the North Pacific and North Atlantic (del Hoyo et al. 1992).
Systems:	Terrestrial; Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

The South Polar Skua breeds on relatively snow-free areas in Antartica (del Hoyo et al. 1992). It is usually reliant on fish (Pietz 1987), with predation on penguins being of variable importance (del Hoyo et al. 1992). It can, however, subside exclusively on penguins where a breeding colony is associated to a penguin rookery (Trillmich 1978, Young and Miller 1999). It is a trans-equatorial migrant, wintering in the North Pacific and North Atlantic (del Hoyo et al. 1992).

Systems:

Terrestrial; Marine

Bibliography [top]

	Barbraud, C.; Weimerskirch, H. 2006. Antarctic birds breed later in response to climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103(16): 6248-6251. del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A.; Sargatal, J. 1992. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. 1996. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2012.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 19 June 2012). Pietz, P. J. 1987. Feeding and nesting ecology of sympatric south polar and brown skuas. The Auk 104: 617-627. Trillmich, F. 1978. Feeding Territories And Breeding Success Of South Polar Skuas. Auk 95(1): 23-33. Young, E. C., and Millar, C. D. 1999. Skua (Catharacta sp.) foraging behavior at the Cape Crozier Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony, Ross Island, Antarctica, and implications for breeding. Notornis 46: 287–297.

Barbraud, C.; Weimerskirch, H. 2006. Antarctic birds breed later in response to climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103(16): 6248-6251.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A.; Sargatal, J. 1992. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. 1996. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2012.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 19 June 2012).

Pietz, P. J. 1987. Feeding and nesting ecology of sympatric south polar and brown skuas. The Auk 104: 617-627.

Trillmich, F. 1978. Feeding Territories And Breeding Success Of South Polar Skuas. Auk 95(1): 23-33.

Young, E. C., and Millar, C. D. 1999. Skua (Catharacta sp.) foraging behavior at the Cape Crozier Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony, Ross Island, Antarctica, and implications for breeding. Notornis 46: 287–297.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2012. Stercorarius maccormicki. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 May 2013.
Disclaimer:	To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
Feedback:	If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided