This is the only Northern Hemisphere member of the larger skuas, formerly placed in their own genus Catharacta.
Not as widespread as southern birds, breeding from Iceland, through the Faroes and Scotland and Ireland to Novaya Zemlya in NW Russia, on islands or coastally. The majority of breeding
birds in Scotland are on Shetland. They migrate south, and can be found on the eastern seaboard of the USA, but largely do not enter the southern hemisphere, whereas southern species
can be found within the range of great. However similarities of all taxa mean that distributions are tentative.
Taken Handa Island June 2015
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