Another recent discovery, more than a dozen years after the fact: these two images of a Chilean Skua who seemingly gate-crashed a gathering of several hundred pairs of Magellanic Penguins on Isla Martillo, an island on the Beagle Channel about two hours by car east of Ushuaia, Argentina. (A full report from that visit is here.)

There were a few more similar bird interventions during that two hour visit that I managed to snap a few photos of, but I didn’t recall this one at all when I rediscovered these photos last week. It may have been because I was paying more attention to the Gentoo Penguins in front of him when he swooped into the frame; it could have just as easily been because the photos aren’t really very good – I routinely skipped right past any that didn’t stand out during that 2013 trans-continental trip when I made thousands of photos. The scene is cluttered, and there’s little detail in the bird itself. But looking back now, as I’m obsessing over my birding life list, being able to add a Chilean Skua (Stercorarius chilensis) onto those lists was a pleasant surprise.

From the images, the penguins don’t appear surprised, alarmed or threatened. The Gentoos are staring straight ahead just as they were before he entered the scene. Others lounging around don’t seem to be too bothered, either.

I searched around a bit after Merlin ID’d my Chilean Skua, and was shocked by how gull-like it is in shape and size, as well as how much, when swimming, it’s cinammon-colored feathers make it resemble a small duck. From Cornell’s Birds of the World:

Some “are misidentified as Brown Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus). Chilean Skua are usually clearly dark-capped, and their central tail feathers are often longer than that seen in other large skuas, two features that suggest “jaeger tendencies” in the appearance of this skua. The real differences are in its behavior, it is the only southern Skua that typically nests in colonies, like a gull! Although they are kleptoparasitic, as well as voracious predators, Chilean Skua also catch a sizeable portion of their food in an “honest” manner. Again, more gull like than other skuas.”

Here is a recording of its calls made on Martillo Island. I wonder if it’s the same bird. 🙂

And below the third and last photo, taken about 30 seconds after his landing above.

More:

• Chilean Skua at Birds of the World
• Chilean Skua at BirdLife DataZone
• Chilean Skua at eBird
• Chilean Skua at Avibase
• Chilean Skua at Wikipedia
• Chilean Skua at iNaturalist

Photos from 31 January, 2013.