The skuas of Sea Lion Island

There is more than a hundred skuas' pairs that breed on Sea Lion Island. During the 2015-2016 we located 125 nests, concentrated in two separate zones: 1) the zone close to the Sea Lion Lodge, near and around the gentoo penguin colonies, and, 2) the West end of the island, including the Sheffield Memorial area, with the rockhopper penguin and king cormorant colonies, and the grass plain toward the old airstrip and the Beaver Pond, that is a area with dense Magellanic penguin burrows. The distribution of the nests is shown in the map below.

Skua nests map

Skuas' nests at Sea Lion Island during the 2015-2016 breeding season