Pomarine Skua

[Joel Brueziere]

Labbe pomarin
Spatelraubmöwe
Stercorarius pomarinus

Lake Leman, Vaud, Switzerland, 03.09.2006, Canon 20D 100x400

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great banking pose and eye contact. what is in the BG? I would sharpen the bird more and could see this as a vertical crop, too. You could also try to tone down the highlights a bit. Please post the complete techs.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely banking pose , IMHO vertical crop will look better
TFS

[Joel Brueziere]

Great banking pose and eye contact. what is in the BG? I would sharpen the bird more and could see this as a vertical crop, too. You could also try to tone down the highlights a bit. Please post the complete techs.

thats France in the BG and Switzerland is behind me

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I would sharpen the bird more...beautiful pose,wing position!

[Simon Bennett]

Excellent banking pose. I'd be tempted to digitally disguise some of the French buildings.

[John Chardine]

Hi Joel- Very unusual to see a skua/jaeger with buildings behind! I like the image because of the pose, head angle and eye contact. I agree that a bit more sharpening would improve the presentation.

Could you say why you think it's a Pomarine Skua. The reason I ask is that I think it might be another species.

[Joel Brueziere]

Hi Joel- Very unusual to see a skua/jaeger with buildings behind! I like the image because of the pose, head angle and eye contact. I agree that a bit more sharpening would improve the presentation.

Could you say why you think it's a Pomarine Skua. The reason I ask is that I think it might be another species.

It's a Pomarine Skua.

Why you think it's not ?

You can check my obs and other pictures on
http://www.ornitho.ch/index.php?m_id=54&mid=11532

[John Chardine]

Sorry Joel, you seem to be misinterpreting my reply. Just really interested in the field marks for learning purposes. BPN is first and foremost an educational site so again would you care to say why you think this bird is a Pomarine Skua/Jaeger. It's fine if you are not interested in sharing, I won't ask again.

[Joel Brueziere]

Sorry Joel, you seem to be misinterpreting my reply. Just really interested in the field marks for learning purposes. BPN is first and foremost an educational site so again would you care to say why you think this bird is a Pomarine Skua/Jaeger. It's fine if you are not interested in sharing, I won't ask again.

Sorry too John I have misinterpreting your respond:
"The reason I ask is that I think it might be another species"
Because my bad "speak english" I cant detail why I think its a Pomarine skua.
Cheers

[John Chardine]

I checked your link Joel and the images there do indeed look like a Pomarine. I see the rounded, twisted central tail feathers characteristic of this species. I was confused with the image you posted because I could not see this field mark so clearly. Pomarines are also larger and "chunkier" than the other jaegers- almost like a Great Skua. This latter field mark does not show in the image. Having said all this, assuming that the posted bird is the same one as the images in the link, I now think your ID is correct. Does anyone see any other field mark that suggests a Pomarine?

PS sorry for all this ID talk, which should be done in the Avian ID forum.

[Dave Brown]

Hi All,

If we get this posted in the ID forum I can perhaps make a contribution towards the discussion.Jargers and Skuas can be nortoriously difficult to identify from single photos,unless they are in full breeding plumage with full length tails.

Good characters to look for on banking Jargers( Stercorarius Skuas) showing the upperparts ,are pattern of rump,bill shape and coloration(amount of pale vs dark in bill) and of course tail shape and size,amount of white showing in the primaries. All I'll say for now is Longtailed is easily eliminated using the features listed above,as well as overall structure. To explain fine details of separation between Pomarine and Acrtic Skua/Parasitic Jaeger could get lengthy and woulnd be better served in the ID forum.

Dave Brown

[Joerg Rockenberger]

The one question I have is - what does a skua in central Europe, e.g. land-locked Switzerland??? JR