What Animal Lives Where

Where has the South Polar Skua been recorded?

Stercorarius maccormicki occurrence evidence comes from 724 records in 10 countries and territories, from 1841 to 2026. Most records come from United States.

South Polar Skua
South Polar Skua — Photo (display-sized rendition): Paride Legovini · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
AvesCharadriiformesStercorariidaeStercorarius

Observation evidence passport

Evidence found

724 records across 10 countries and territories, 1841–2026.

Stercorarius maccormicki · GBIF taxon key 2481616

Source coverage

CC0 GBIF Animalia occurrence facets, including country, month and year summaries.

Refreshed 2026-09-21. Inspect the taxon on GBIF.

What this means

The species has been recorded in the listed places in the stated source universe. Peak month: September.

10 months reach at least 10% of the peak facet count.

What this does not mean

repeated describes the record pattern, not a formal range, residency, abundance or conservation assessment.

A single record remains evidence of a recording, not proof that a population lives there.

Compare this animal’s observation pattern

When it is recorded

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak month: September. Records cluster in the months an animal is present and being looked for, so a summer peak can reflect observer effort as much as the animal.

Records over time

18412026

Recording effort has risen steeply almost everywhere since the 1990s, so a rising line usually shows more observers rather than more animals.

Where South Polar Skua has been recorded

The countries below show where occurrence evidence exists for South Polar Skua. They do not define a complete habitat range: survey effort differs by place, and historical or one-off records can appear alongside repeated presence.

PlaceRecordsShare
United States 337
Antarctica 306
Canada 62
Australia 4
Mexico 3
ZZ 3
Russia 2
Sweden 2
Chile 1
Japan 1

Related animals

Others in the family Stercorariidae.

Parasitic Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
97,476 records
Long-tailed Jaeger
Long-tailed Jaeger
28,610 records
Pomarine Jaeger
Pomarine Jaeger
21,146 records
Great Skua
Great Skua
19,177 records
Brown Skua
Brown Skua
285 records
Record pattern: repeated
Repeated records across many years and months. This is inferred from how many years and months the animal appears in, not from a range map — treat it as evidence, not a formal assessment.