Pomarine Skua - ageing and morphs

Stercorarius pomarinus  

Age and or morph was recorded for most Pomarine Skua sightings. Fewer adults than other ages were recorded. Adults made up 37 % of the total in the Strumble Head series between 1982 and 2003.

 When the highest day totals were recorded, on the 17th October 1991 and on the 18th October 1991, during a recovery movement in strong north–west winds, following south–west gales which had presumably displaced unusually high numbers into Cardigan Bay, only 25 % and 18 % respectively were adults, suggesting immature birds were more susceptible to the immediate effect of extreme weather.

Light- phase made up the bulk of the adult sightings, dark-phase birds amounting to less than 1% of the total.

Graham Rees

(Covers records up to and including 2006)