South Polar Skua - Carl Giometti 🍹
Report

Contributor

Date

Location

Maine Audubon Pelagic 2014--Segment V
Washington, Maine, United States
Media from this location Illustrated Checklist
Map
Map Coordinates: 44.25433, -67.483192
Age
Not specified
Sex
Not specified

Observation details

Spectacular close, confiding bird that worked our chum slick and the birds in it. The blackish under wing coverts contrasted sharply with a bold white patch that extended from the primaries inward across most of the secondaries. The body was a smooth gray-brown, some paler tawny streaks highlighted the nape and hindneck, but this was otherwise a rather uniform looking bird. The legs were all dark. The bill was slate to dark grayish slate and appeared comparatively slimmer and shorter than the Great Skua earlier in the day. The head and bill even appeared delicate in some angles (rounded head). The "hand" (outer primaries) looked somewhat shortened and blunted. This appearance differed from the longer wing and longer pointed hand of the Great Skua earlier. Photos show that the outer two primaries of this South Polar Skua were growing. South Polar Skua (Stercorarius maccormicki)South Polar Skua (Stercorarius maccormicki)South Polar Skua (Stercorarius maccormicki)

Technical information

Model
NIKON D3100
Lens
55.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6
ISO
1600
Focal length
300 mm
Flash
Flash did not fire
f-stop
f/13.0
Shutter speed
1/1000 sec
Dimensions
3804 pixels x 2244 pixels
Original file size
5.68 MB