An older name for the bird is MacCormick's skua, after explorer and naval surgeon Robert McCormick, who first collected the type specimen.

Juveniles and adult dark morphs are harder to distinguish from their relatives, and more subjective or difficult-to-observe criteria, such as the colder brown plumage and blue bill base, must be used.

The large size, massive barrel chest, and white wing flashes of this bird are distinctive even at a distance.

[citation needed] The south polar skua eats mainly fish, often obtained by robbing gulls, terns and even gannets of their catches.

First confirmed record of South Polar Skua Catharacta maccormicki Saunders, 1893 (Aves: Stercorariidae) from Western Province, Sri Lanka.