• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Catharacta skua (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously placed in the genus Stercorarius.

Catharacta skua, C. antarctica and C. maccormicki (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), cross-regional species, are retained as separate species contra Christidis and Boles (1994) and Turbott (1990) who include lonnbergi and antarctica as subspecies of C. skua and AERC TAC (2003) who include C. maccormicki as a subspecies of C. skua.

Taxonomic source(s)
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	4,300,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	35,800,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	30000-34999 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	17.5 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The breeding population, which is confined to Europe, is estimated at 16,300-17,200 pairs, which roughly equates to 30,000-34,999 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015).

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats. The European population trend is unknown (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Algeria	extant	native
Anguilla (to UK)	extant	uncertain
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native
Austria	extant	native				yes
Barbados	extant	native
Belgium	extant	native
Belize	extant	native
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Brazil	extant	native
Bulgaria	extant	native			yes
Canada	extant	native
Cape Verde	extant	native
Colombia	extant	native
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	vagrant
Croatia	extant	vagrant
Cuba	extant	vagrant
Cyprus	extant	uncertain
Czechia	extant	vagrant
Denmark	extant	native				yes
Dominica	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes
Finland	extant	vagrant
France	extant	native			yes	yes
French Guiana	extant	native
Gambia	extant	uncertain
Germany	extant	native
Ghana	extant	vagrant
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Greece	extant	vagrant
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	native			yes
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	vagrant			yes
Guinea	extant	uncertain
Guinea-Bissau	extant	uncertain
Guyana	extant	native
Hungary	extant	vagrant
Iceland	extant	native		yes
Ireland	extant	native		yes
Israel	extant	vagrant
Italy	extant	native			yes
Latvia	extant	vagrant
Lebanon	extant	uncertain
Liberia	extant	vagrant
Libya	extant	native
Lithuania	extant	vagrant
Luxembourg	extant	vagrant
Malta	extant	vagrant
Martinique (to France)	extant	native
Mauritania	extant	native
Montenegro	extant	vagrant
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native
Morocco	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native			yes
Nigeria	extant	vagrant
Norway	extant	native		yes
Panama	extant	native
Poland	extant	vagrant
Portugal	extant	native			yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native
Romania	extant	vagrant
Russia	extant	native		yes	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	vagrant			yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Senegal	extant	vagrant
Serbia	extant	vagrant
Sierra Leone	extant	uncertain
Slovakia	extant	native
Slovenia	extant	vagrant
Spain	extant	native			yes
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native
St Lucia	extant	native
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native			yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native
Suriname	extant	native
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	native		yes
Sweden	extant	native
Switzerland	extant	vagrant			yes
Syria	extant	uncertain
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	uncertain
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	vagrant
United Kingdom	extant	native		yes
USA	extant	native			yes
Venezuela	extant	uncertain
Virgin Islands (to UK)	extant	uncertain
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	uncertain
Western Sahara	extant	uncertain

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Denmark	Skagerrak-Southwest Norwegian trench
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	Sandoy
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	Skúvoy
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	Streymoy
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	Vágar
Iceland	Breidamerkursandur - Fagurholsmyri
Iceland	Oxarfjordur
Iceland	Skeidararsandur
Mauritania	Canary current shelf-break (south)
Morocco	Canary current shelf-break (north)
Russia (European)	Seven islands
Spain	Cape Busto-Luanco
Spain	Cape Candelaria-Ortigueira estuary-Cape Estaca de Bares
Spain	Costa da Morte
Spain	Estrecho de Gibraltar
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	Bjørnøya (Bear Island)
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	Forlandet National Park
United Kingdom	Fair Isle
United Kingdom	Foula
United Kingdom	Handa
United Kingdom	Hermaness, Saxa Vord and Valla Field
United Kingdom	Hoy
United Kingdom	Noss
United Kingdom	Ronas Hill - North Roe and Tingon
United Kingdom	Sandwick and Clift Hills
United Kingdom	South Bressay
United Kingdom	St Kilda

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Tundra	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Competition, Reduced reproductive success
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Great Skua Catharacta skua. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/great-skua-catharacta-skua on 24/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 24/11/2024.