Page 400 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

398 ANIMAL LIFE

ORDER CHARADRIIFORMES ORDER CHARADRIIFORMES way it feeds. There are several color
forms, which differ in their proportion
Black Skimmer Arctic Skua of brown and gray, but all have streamers
that give their tails a sharp central point.
Rynchops niger Stercorarius parasiticus This species catches fish, but it is better
LENGTH 16–20 in LENGTH 18–26 in known as a kleptoparasite, which steals
(40–50 cm) (46–65 cm) food from other birds. It swoops down
WEIGHT 9–14 oz WEIGHT 14–21 oz on gulls and terns as they return from
(250–400 g) (400–600 g) the sea, chasing them and often
HABITAT Estuaries, HABITAT Coasts, tundra, gripping their tail feathers with its bill.
lagoons, lakes, coasts moorland, open sea Its victims react by disgorging food,
DISTRIBUTION Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North, touches food, the skimmer snaps its DISTRIBUTION Northern waters (breeding); which the skua deftly intercepts in
Central, and South America, north to Massachusetts bill shut, flicking its catch into its throughout Southern Hemisphere (non-breeding) midair. Arctic skuas also hunt small land
mouth. The black skimmer is one of animals and steal eggs and chicks
Similar to terns in overall shape, three species of skimmers, all of which This slender-winged sea bird, also called from nests. They nest on the
skimmers have remarkable and highly are dark above, with white underparts. the parasitic or Arctic jaeger, is ground and winter
distinctive bills. The lower part, or Like its relatives, it often feeds at dawn exceptionally fast and maneuverable in at sea.
mandible, of the bill is at least a third and dusk, and it will also feed during the air—a skill that is central to the
longer than the upper part and is the night if the moonlight is bright
laterally compressed, giving it a shape enough. It lives in small flocks and
like a scissor blade. When feeding, nests on beaches and sand spits,
a skimmer flies low over calm water laying its eggs in an unlined hollow
with its lower mandible slicing on the ground. It is migratory in the
through the surface. If the mandible far north and south of its range.

ORDER CHARADRIIFORMES
Great Skua

Stercorarius skua
LENGTH 20–26 in
(51–66 cm)
3
WEIGHT 2 / 4–3 / 2 lb
1
(1.2–1.6 kg)
HABITAT Coasts, inshore
waters, open sea
DISTRIBUTION North Atlantic (breeding), dispersing
south to equator (non-breeding)
Powerfully built, with short, broad
wings, the great skua is shaped like
an unusually thickset gull, but it has
mottled, dark brown plumage that
changes only slightly as it matures.
It is a rapacious predator, eating fish,
small mammals, and also other birds,
as well as raiding nests for eggs and
chicks. Normally slow and ponderous
in the air, it becomes swift and agile
when it hunts, and chases birds as large
as gannets to force them to regurgitate
their food, which it then eats. The
great skua nests on the ground and
spends the rest of the year at sea.

ORDER CHARADRIIFORMES
ADAPTED EGGS
Common Murre
Murre eggs are distinctly pointed
at one end and will roll around in
Uria aalge
1
1
LENGTH 15 / 2 –16 / 2 in a circle if disturbed. This
(39–42 cm) adaptation keeps them from
3
1
WEIGHT 1 / 4 –2 / 2 lb falling off the narrow cliff ledges
(850 g–1.1 kg) where they are laid. Their color
HABITAT Inshore waters, varies greatly and their irregular
rocky coasts, open sea surface markings of dark blotches
DISTRIBUTION North Atlantic, north Pacific and intricate scribbling may aid
identification by the parents.
Conspicuously marked in brownish
black and gleaming white, the markings unique
OCEAN LIFE surface, swimming underwater using
to each egg
common murre spends most of the
year at sea. It dives for fish from the
its wings. In spring, common murres
crowd together on narrow cliff ledges,
where each female lays a single egg
directly on to the rock. When the
chick is fully grown, the male parent
escorts it into the sea.