The Skua Bird - some facts

   The skua or jaeger gull is a gull-like bird of the subfamily Stercorariidae, in which the nostrils open beneath the edge of a horny cere and other structural oddities exist, sufficient, in the opinion of some ornithologists, to en-title this group to family rank. These birds are rapacious, attacking and annoying terns and small gulls and compelling them to drop fish they have already taken. The Antarctic species strike down living birds as hawks do. Skuas are about 20 inches long and about 4 feet in extent of wings, with plumage dusky above and usually white below.