Pomarine Skua

A thicker, bigger bird than Arctic and Long-tailed Skuas. The bill is gull-like, pale with a dark tip, and the tail has streamers coming from its centre, shaped similarly to spoons. Sexes are similar, but there are two colour morphs; the paler is the most common. These birds have barred flanks, whitish underparts, dark caps, white neck and a dark band on the breast. There's a yellow tinge to the cheeks and a pale crescent marking beneath the broad wings. The rarer, all-dark morph resembles the paler bird but it is uniformly dark grey-brown. Juveniles have vivid barring beneath the tail, their legs are pale, and plumage is predominately varied levels of dark grey-brown. They appear all dark when at rest, there are two pale crescent markings beneath the wings and the tail has a blunt end.