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Catharacta lonnbergi

                                    

These birds are the pirates of the southern ocean chasing other birds at sea to make them drop or disgorge the food they have caught. On land in nesting areas they become a shore scavenger feeding on the eggs and chicks of other birds. Breeds on islands from Stewart Island south to Macqurie Island with nesting beginning in September.

South Polar or Antarctic skua

Catharacta maccormicki

This skua of the southern pack ice is only an occasional wanderer to New Zealand

Pomarine Skua

Stercorarius pomarinus

Another quite uncommom skua around the East Cape, these birds breed in the arctic circle.

White naped petrel

Pterodroma cervicalis

                  

I only see one or two of these quite rare birds each summer, usually at the hottest time of the year. They breed on Raoul Island in the Kermadecs laying in December. I have been unable to find any other photos of this bird on the net.

White-chinned petrel

Procellaria aequinoctialis

This is the first white chinned petrel I have identified here although as they are quite similar to, but larger than, the black petrels we commonly see in summer I may have missed them in the past. They are a circumpolar subantarctic breeder nesting in the NZ region on the Antipodes, Auckland and Campbell Islands

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