CreatureData

Brown skua

Stercorarius antarcticus (R. Lesson, 1831)

Status not recordedbirds

The brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) is a species in the family Stercorariidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.62 kg to 1.8 kg and live up to 28.8 years.

Brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus)
Photo: BluesyPete · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the brown skua

Weight
1.62 kg – 1.8 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
1.26 m – 1.6 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
28.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
34.5 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
29 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
3.98 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the brown skua?

BROWN SKUA · WINGSPAN 1.6 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1.6 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the brown skua is close to the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the brown skua live?

Not recorded

What is the brown skua?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.

From the Wikipedia article “Brown skua” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_skua&oldid=1359092179), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the brown skua endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the brown skua classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyStercorariidae
  6. genusStercorarius
  7. SpeciesStercorarius antarcticus (R. Lesson, 1831)

Synonyms Catharacta antarctica, Catharacta skua antarctica, Catharacta skua antarctica, Megalestris antarctica

Other names and names in other languages (56)
  • Antarctic skuaEnglish
  • Southern skuaEnglish
  • Subantarctic skuaEnglish
  • BruinroofmeeuAfrikaans
  • كركر بنيArabic
  • Antarktika sahilqağayısıAzerbaijani
  • Кафяв морелетникBulgarian
  • Sparfell-vor AntarktikaBreton
  • paràsit subantàrticCatalan
  • chaluha subantarktickáCzech
  • chaluha jižníCzech
  • Sgiwen frownWelsh
  • Sydlig StorkjoveDanish
  • Falkland StorkjoveDanish
  • BraunskuaGerman
  • Antarktis SkuaGerman
  • Antarktis-SkuaGerman
  • SubantarktikskuaGerman
  • bruna rabmevoEsperanto
  • Escúa pardaSpanish
  • Escúa AntárticaSpanish
  • Págalo subantárticoSpanish
  • Salteador pardoSpanish
  • patagoonia ännEstonian
  • قاپوی قهوهایPersian
  • etelänkihuFinnish
  • Labbe antarctiqueFrench
  • Meirleach an DeiscirtIrish
  • Papamerda subantárticoGalician
  • חמסן חוםHebrew
  • barna halfarkasHungarian
  • Stercorario antarticoItalian
  • ミナミオオトウゾクカモメJapanese
  • antarktinis plėšikasLithuanian
  • brūnā klijkaijaLatvian
  • vorondrekyMalagasy
  • HākoakoaMāori
  • തവിടൻ സ്കുവMalayalam
  • Łóóʼyiniʼįįhí dibéłchíʼígííNavajo
  • Bruine JagerDutch
  • Subantarctische grote jagerDutch
  • sørhavsjoNorwegian
  • wydrzyk brunatnyPolish
  • بھورا سکواWestern Panjabi
  • mandrião-antárticoPortuguese
  • alcaide-do-antárticoPortuguese
  • moleiro-subantárcticoPortuguese
  • Антарктический поморникRussian
  • pomorník antarktickýSlovak
  • Smeđi pomornikSerbian
  • antarktislabbSwedish
  • Antarktisk labbSwedish
  • Kahverengi KorsanmartıTurkish
  • поморник фолклендськийUkrainian
  • 棕賊鷗Chinese
  • 棕贼鸥Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFTAXREFWikidataWoRMS

Relatives of the brown skua

Other species in the same genus Stercorarius.

LC, Least Concern
Great skua (Stercorarius skua)

Great skua

Stercorarius skua

Stercorariidae

CompareBrown skua vs Parasitic jaegerBrown skua vs Great skuaBrown skua vs Pomarine jaegerBrown skua vs Long-tailed jaeger

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the brown skua?

An adult brown skua weighs 1.62 kg – 1.8 kg and has a wingspan of 1.26 m – 1.6 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

How long does the brown skua live?

The brown skua has a recorded lifespan of 28.8 years.

What kind of animal is the brown skua?

The brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) belongs to the family Stercorariidae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-skua

MLA

“Brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-skua.

BibTeX
@misc{brown_skua_2026,
  title = {Brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-skua},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}