My birding column in the Bangor Daily News this weekend was about the skuas on the Maine Audubon pelagic trip. (http://bangordailynews.com/2013/09/27/outdoors/grudge-birds-give-in-show-up/).
I wrote that the first great skua we encountered was missing some flight feathers. I received the reply below.
1) Was I correct that the great skua was missing feathers? (My photos were disappointing.)
2) If so, does anyone have a good photo to share with Sjúrður at sjurdur@hotmail.com?
Bob Duchesne
From: Sjúrður Hammer [mailto:sjurdur@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2013 8:17 AM
To: duchesne@midmaine.com
Subject: Great skua query
Hi Bob,
I'm a great skua researcher from the Faroes. I found your observation of that one great skua interesting. It's not unlikely to consider that great skuas winter over in the west atlantic. Or as far as we know only the Icelandic population does this (Magnusdottir et al 2012). But what I found particularly interesting is your notice that: "This one was missing several flight feathers." I wonder if you perhaps have pictures of this bird? Or did you notice whether the feathers that were missing, were the innermost primaries? You probably will know that great skuas are feisty birds, so they can easily lose a primary or two in fights, but I'm more interested in whether you think that it was primary moult, which would normally begin only after they reached their wintering area.
I will look forward to hearing from you again.
Regards
Sjúrður Hammer
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