Raptor of the South

Chris Linder Photography, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

The artist's goal is to increase public awareness and understanding of a historically misunderstood Antarctic bird species: the South Polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki). Skuas are powerful, stocky, gull-like seabirds. Although they spend most of their lives at sea, during the brief austral summer they raise their young on Antarctica's rocky shores. Some skuas nest near Adélie penguin colonies to take advantage of the abundant supply of penguin eggs and chicks from November to mid-January. These skuas often use elaborate cooperative tactics to outsmart the nesting penguins. This predatory behavior, and their reputation for aggressively defending their own nests, has earned them the nickname "raptor of the south." Although countless popular books and movies have been devoted to penguins, the complete story of the South Polar skua is relatively unknown to the public. This project will use still photographs and audio recordings to document the natural history of the South Polar skuas nesting at Cape Bird on Ross Island. Cape Bird is regarded as the classic location to study penguin-skua interactions, and researchers from NSF and Antarctica New Zealand (ANZ) have recently initiated a new study of how South Polar skua predation can limit the size of penguin subcolonies.