Seabirds around fishing vessels

Skuas

Only one species of skua, the southern (also called brown) skua, breeds in the New Zealand region. However, three other species occasionally visit New Zealand waters (the south polar skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua). The brown and south polar skuas are similar in appearance, and the Arctic and pomarine skuas are also difficult to distinguish at sea. Consequently, some misidentifications are likely.

Catharacta spp. & Stercorarius spp.
CC-BY, Dragonfly Science

Mean number of skuas recorded around fishing vessels during counts carried out by government observers, binned to 0.4 degree of longitude and latitude. The size of the circle indicates the number of observations, whereas the colour indicates the mean number of birds recorded during counts. Empty circles indicate that no birds were observed. The grey areas indicate water depths of less than 1000 m.

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