Overview
Collisions between planes and birds can be serious for both parties. The remains of a bird after such a collision is called “snarge”. In 2012, a snarge from a collision with a passenger plane about 4 km above Coromandel Peninsula was sent to Te Papa for identification. By examining the external features still evident in the partial remains, it was identified as a long-tailed skua – Stercorarius longicaudus. DNA analysis confirmed this.
This finding was significant because it provided further evidence of the long-tailed skua as a high-altitude flyer, additional data for the non-breeding distribution for the species, and a further record of a species rarely reported in New Zealand (Galbraith et al. 2013). Long-tailed skuas breed in the Arctic, and occasionally visit New Zealand outside the breeding season.
Skuas are seabirds related to gulls. Skuas, like the long-tailed skua, often steal the catches of other seabirds by chasing them.
Only one species of skua – the subantarctic skua – breeds in New Zealand, while four other skua species visit New Zealand when not breeding: the south polar skua from Antarctica, and the pomarine skua, Arctic skua, and long-tailed skua from the Arctic.
Skua in Te Papa’s Collections Online.
References:
Galbraith M, Tennyson A, Shepherd L, Robinson P, Fraser D (2013) High altitude New Zealand record for a long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus). Notornis 60: 245-248. Online paper (pdf).
Szabo, M.J. 2013. Long-tailed skua. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online.