Other Birds of Macca: Skuas

There's plenty of different birds around here. Most are native and others are introduced (either by humans or by themselves). There's even a couple of native species that are are endemic, which I suppose is nice for them. I'll be making some posts about birds that aren't penguins. As cute as the penguins are, I can't neglect the other wildlife.

Skua, keeping watch for any food coming along.

Today I'm looking at one of the scavenging birds, Skuas (sometimes pronounced skoo-uhs, sometimes skewers; depends who you talk to). These guys are cheeky bastards. They'll get into any and everything they can, including waiting for the afterbirth when seal pups are calved. They're also not afraid of human movement and watch very closely with beady, evil eyes. When a number of them decide to flock together for a feed they'll take the eyes of whatever animal they're going for first and then proceed to tear it to shreds - usually helped out by any passing Giant Petrels (the petrels are bigger and will stake a kill or carcass from a skua).

Waiting for the pup's feeding time

This skua decided taking the spilt milk was easier than trying to annoy the pup into dropping milk