The skuas are a group of seabirds with about seven species forming the family Stercorariidae and the genus Stercorarius. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in the Americas. The English word "skua" comes from the Faroese name skúgvur for the Great Skua, with the island of Skúvoy renowned for its colony of that bird. The general Faroese term for skuas is kjógvi The word "jaeger" is derived from the German word Jäger, meaning "hunter". Skuas nest on the ground in temperate and Arctic regions, and are long-distance migrants. They have even been sighted at the South Pole.[ Outside the breeding season, skuas take fish, offal, and carrion. Many are partial kleptoparasites, comprising up to 95% of the feeding methods of wintering birds, by chasing gulls, terns and other seabirds to steal their catches, regardless of the size of the species attacked (up to 3 times heavier than the attacking skua). The larger species, such as the Great Skua, also regularly kill and eat adult birds, such as puffins and gulls, and have been recorded as killing birds as large as a Grey Heron. On the breeding grounds they commonly eat lemmings, and the eggs and young of other birds. In the Southern oceans and Antarctica region, some skua species (especially the South Polar Skua) will readily scavenge the carcasses at breeding colonies of penguins and pinnipeds, sometimes taking live penguin chicks. In these areas, skuas seem to defer to the considerably larger giant petrels. They are medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. The skuas range in size from the Long-tailed Skua, Stercorarius longicauda, at 310 grams , to the Brown Skua, Stercorarius antarcticus, at 1.63 kg. On average, a skua is about 56 cm long, and 121 cm across the wings. They have longish bills with a hooked tip, and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls, but have a fleshy cere above the upper mandible. The skuas are strong, acrobatic fliers. They are generally aggressive in disposition. Potential predators who go near their nest will be quickly dived at by the parent bird, which usually targets the head of the intruder - a practice known as 'dive bombing'. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skua

English	Norsk	Latin
Brown Skua	Sørhavsjo	Stercorarius antarcticus
Chilean Skua	Kaneljo	Stercorarius chilensis
Long-tailed Jaeger or Skua	Fjelljo	Stercorarius longicaudus
South Polar Skua	Sørjo	Stercorarius maccormicki
Parasitic Jaeger or Arctic	Tyvjo	Stercorarius parasiticus
Pomarine Jaeger or Skua	Polarjo	Stercorarius pomarinus
Great Skua	Storjo	Stercorarius skua

Falkland Skua, Stercorarius (antarcticus) antarcticus
Tristan Skua, Stercorarius (antarcticus) hamiltoni
Subantarctic Skua, Stercorarius (antarcticus) lonnbergi




Long-tailed Jaeger or Skua, Stercorarius longicaudus

Fjelljo, Stercorarius longicaudus
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Of the four species of the sksuas we find in Norway, it is the Long-tailed Skua that is most dependent of lemmings, and their number varies as the population of lemmings goes up and down. The Pomarine Skua likes eggs and chickens during summer.
All four species are know stealing from other seabirds.

The four species: Stercorarius longicaudus Long-tailed Skua Stercorarius parasiticus Arctic Skua Stercorarius pomarinus Pomarine Skua Stercorarius skua Great Skua

   
Fjelljo, Stercorarius longicaudus
© www.ecosystema.ru/

Even if they are 'bandidos' as grown-ups, it is still touching to see both eggs and chickens in the spring.