A study on the siting, establishment and maintenance of territories in the South Polar Skua (Catharacta maccormicki)

A study of skua territories was conducted by examining siting, establishment and maintenance of territories in two very different conditions including in an area close to the penguins where skuas nest in a tight concentration and in an alpine exposed area of low skua concentration. Direct observations of conflicts and encounters through the summer and the changing position of boundaries was followed in relation to breeding state of the the skua pairs. An independent assessment of a social hierarchy was made to allow investigation of the relation between this hierarchy and territory size, position and breeding success to be concluded. The relation between territory factor and breeding success, especially the survival of the chicks following the displacement of one of the two chicks from the nest that invariable occurs soon after both hatch was also recorded.