Species:

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

Great Skua (Stercorarius skua)

Change species:
Main Images:
Length (cm):
58-67
53-58
Wingspan (cm):
110-133
132-140
Weight (gram):
800-1450
1210-1630
Size group:
Bigger than a crow
Bigger than a crow
Main Texts:
Appearance:

Big, goose-sized duck. Gives an overall white impression. Reddish breast-band, dark blackish green head and black flight-feathers. Tip of tail black and adults with dark belly-band. Bill red. Males with red knob at base of bill. Juveniles duller, with white chin and no breast-band. Goose-like flight with slow wing-beats.

Sound:

Male: Various whistling sounds. Often series of ricochet-like "piu" repeated with gradually rising and falling intensity. Also passerine-like "tzzrrrr". Female: different variants on deeper hoarse sounds like "ar-ar-ar-ar" sometimes with accented endings with rising pitch.

Display-call:

Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file


Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Louis A. Hansen,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

CC-photo:Sergey Yeliseev, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Large and heavy skua with broad wings and short tail. The white patches at base of primaries are more striking than in the other skuas, and are visible both on upper and underside of wings. Size comparable to Herring Gull, but build more compact. Seemingly black at a distance, but white wing-patches usually visible. Confusion with juvenile Pomarine Skua possible, but body is heavier (not just the chest), wings rounder, bill longer, neck thicker and tail shorter.

Sound:

Heard mostly at breeding ground. Short, and dry "kek", when agitated. Also a nasal, slightly mewing "kew".

Alarm call:

Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file


Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

CC-sound:Rob van Bemmelen, Licence,Link.

Similar species (image):
Similar species (sound):
Silhouette Group:
Duck-like
Silhouette
Gull-like
Silhouette
Several different images of the species
ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage
ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage
Several different sounds of the species
Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file