Monday, November 27, 2006

Skua - The Bird


"A variety of Antarctic seagull that is noted
for its rapaciousness and its wide variety of
acceptible foodstuffs"

Let's not kid ourselves. These birds are rats
with wings. And not so nice rats either. Many
a McMurdoite feels like Tippi Hedren in "The
Birds" this time of year. Being chased by a
skua is not uncommon. Especially if you have
food in your hands or a brightly colored hat on
your head. They're not dumb. They want one thing.
Food. They don't care how they get it. They have
been known to draw blood and covering your food
with clear wrap or aluminum foil only poses a
greater challenge to these foul (pun intended)
creatures. It would be easy to shoo them away or
chase them away from our trash dumpsters. That
would violate the Antarctic Treaty though which
says that we can't approach or harrass animals.
Hmmm...I'll have to remember that the next time
I see a skua dive bombing a bowl of ice cream
or plate of meat loaf.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Screw that. I say beat the hell out of those pests. Not that I would do that. I wouldn't break the sacred treaty. But really, beat the hell out of them.