Seen on passage only and thus hardly at all. Smaller than the Great Skua and in the winter the same colour and with the same white wing flashes, (due to the white base of the leading primaries), juveniles can usually only be distinguished from their larger cousins by size alone, but once fully adult Pomarine Skuas develops a long, spoon shaped tail.

Like the Arctic Skua, there are two adult morphs, a dark and a light, the dark appearing almost totally black - apart from the white wing flashes - while the light has a white belly and yellow cheeks under a black head.