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Long-tailed Jaeger

Stercorarius longicaudus

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernVertebratesMarineScrapeMedium · 288 g
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 1
Photo: Per Willy Bøe · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 2
Photo: Pål A. Olsvik · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 3
Photo: Sandra Keller · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 4
Photo: Sandra Keller · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 5
Photo: Stephan Sprinz · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 6
Photo: Stephan Sprinz · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 7
Photo: (c) David McCorquodale, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 8
Photo: (c) David McCorquodale, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 9
Photo: Sandra Keller · CC BY 4.0
Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), photo 10
Photo: Sandra Keller · CC BY 4.0

What the Long-tailed Jaeger sounds like

Sonogram of the Long-tailed Jaeger: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Davyd Betchkal · Call · Amiloyak Lake, Gates of the Arctic National Park, AK, United States · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Long-tailed Jaeger: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Dermot Breen · Nocturnal flight call · Municipal District of Conamara (near Clifden), Galway, County Galway, Ireland · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Long-tailed Jaeger: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Teet Sirotkin · Call · N Ekkerøy, Vadsø, Finnmark, Norway · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

This species is unmistakable as an adult, with grey back, dark primary wing feathers without a white "flash", black cap and very long tail. Adults often hover over their breeding territories. Juveniles are much more problematic, and are difficult to separate from parasitic jaeger over the sea. They are slimmer, longer-winged and more tern-like than that species, but show the same wide range of plumage variation. However, they are usually colder toned than Arctic, with greyer shades, rather than brown. This is the smallest of the skua family at 38–58 cm (15–23 in), depending on season and age.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Long-tailed Jaeger

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 5 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is June, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Long-tailed Jaeger

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 65 countries with regular records, and 15 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Sweden Norway Canada United Kingdom Finland Australia Spain Taiwan Russia Belgium Greenland Argentina Chile France Peru Ireland Portugal Japan Israel Indonesia Germany Sri Lanka Senegal Mexico Costa Rica New Zealand Faroe Islands Hong Kong SAR China Bermuda South Africa Poland Denmark Switzerland Guadeloupe United Arab Emirates Iceland Falkland Islands Guatemala Malaysia Northern Mariana Islands Czechia China French Guiana Papua New Guinea Micronesia Thailand Singapore Hungary Italy Ecuador South Korea Namibia Austria St. Pierre & Miquelon El Salvador Solomon Islands Slovenia French Polynesia Vanuatu Uruguay Kuwait Lithuania Isle of Man Latvia

Recorded as a rare visitor in India, Netherlands, Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Türkiye, Georgia, Philippines, Réunion, Martinique, Suriname, Bulgaria, Estonia.

About the Long-tailed Jaeger

The long-tailed jaeger or long-tailed skua is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) Great SkuaStercorarius skuaGreat skuas measure 50–58 cm (20–23 in) long and have a 125–140 cm (49–55 in) wingspan. Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus) Pomarine JaegerStercorarius pomarinusThis species ranges from 46 to 67 cm (18 to 26 in) in length, 110 to 138 cm (43 to 54 in) in wingspan and 540–920 g (1.19–2.03 lb) in weight. Chilean Skua (Stercorarius chilensis) Chilean SkuaStercorarius chilensisChilean skuas tend to be dark on their back, flanks, and cheeks, and uniformly light underneath.

Side by side: Long-tailed Jaeger vs Parasitic Jaeger · Long-tailed Jaeger vs Pomarine Jaeger · Great Skua vs Long-tailed Jaeger · Chilean Skua vs Long-tailed Jaeger

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