Birds and wildlife

Long-tailed Skua

Stercorarius icaudusGroup: SkuasUK Conservation status:Green

How to identify

The Long-tailed Skua is a medium-sized seabird and our smallest skua. It is the size of a black-headed gull, with slim wings and delicate tail streamers. It is greyish above and dusky below with a pale breast. It has a dark cap on the head and has a dark bill. Juvenile birds are greyer and more stripey than young Arctic and Pomarine Skuas, but are tricky to identify. It's a passage migrant to the UK, breeding in the high Arctic. Good numbers of birds spend the winter off west African coasts and off Brazilian and Argentinian coasts.

Call

Long-tailed Skua

Patrik Åberg / xeno-canto

Key

  1. Resident
  2. Passage
  3. Summer
  4. Winter
* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

Key facts