Stercorarius antarcticus
Silhouette: Liam Quinn (photo) and Albertonykus (silhouette) · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus), also known as the Antarctic skua, Subantarctic skua, southern great skua, southern skua, or hākoakoa (Māori), is a large seabird that breeds in the subantarctic and Antarctic zones and moves farther north when not breeding. Its taxonomy is highly complex and a matter of dispute, with some splitting it into two or three species: Falkland skua (S. antarcticus), Tristan skua (S. hamiltoni), and subantarctic skua (S. lonnbergi). To further confuse, it hybridizes with both the south polar and Chilean skuas, and the entire group has been considered to be a subspecies of the great skua, a species otherwise restricted to the Northern Hemisphere.
This is the heaviest species of skua and rivals the largest gulls, the great black-backed gull and glaucous gull, as the heaviest species in the shorebird order although not as large in length or wingspan. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 2 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Skua sighting in Garden Route National Park on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 188th most-seen of the 222 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Skua in Garden Route National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Skua sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Brown Skua sightings, Garden Route National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Rakiura National Park (New Zealand, under 5%).
Same order: Charadriiformes
The closest relatives of the Brown Skua that you can see in Garden Route National Park (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Dominican Gull (about 40%), Blacksmith Lapwing (about 30%) and African Black Oystercatcher (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Skua is recorded against all the birds logged in Garden Route National Park (18 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
