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Long-tailed Jaeger
(Stercorarius longicaudus)
: "Long-tailed Skua"
Size: 38-58 cm (streamers 15-20 cm); wing span 1.0-1.2 m
Weight: 230-445 g
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Similar
species |
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Physical description |
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 Click here for a physical description
The Long-tailed Jaeger is the smallest member of the genus
Stercorarius.
Adults in breeding plumage
have a small black cap, while the rest of the head and the
neck are white. Down the front the white morphs into pale
grey towards the belly and underwing. Also the underwings
are pale-grey, with thin, slightly darker grey edges. The
upperwings are mid-grey and also have darker edges.
Their most prominet feature are long streamers that look
like a trailing spike.
When not breeding adults come in different morphologies.
Non-breeding adults have a few features in common. They all
have almost uniformly grey wings and black-and-white barring
on the mantle and the sides and the upperside of the tail.
Variations occur in the morphology of front and head.
Dark morphology adults have a grey yead and black-and-white
barring all down the underparts.
Others have a dark head and neck, but otherwise the front is
white.
Some have only a grey breast band and a pale cap, but are
otherwise white on head and front.
The palest morphology has an all-white head and an all-white
front.
Immature
Long-tailed Jaegers also show different morphologies, which
basically resemble those of adult birds (see above), but with
strongly barred underwings.
The amount of barring decreases with age; adult
plumage is
formed in their fourth year.
In Australia adult Long-tailed Jaegers are usually seen in
non-breeding
plumage. This
means that their most prominent feature, the long tail streamers,
are usually not present.
Especially when seen at a considerable distance, Long-tailed Jaegers
can be very hard to distinguish from
Pomarine Jaegers
and Arctic Jaegers.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See Long-tailed
Jaeger at Wikipedia  .
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
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The global distribution of the Long-tailed Jaeger is available
HERE
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Long-tailed Jaegers are a strongly migratory
pelagic species
of which there are two races.
They breed in the northern (Arctic) parts of Eurasia
and North America, nesting nest on arctic tundra and
islands.
Nominate race
"longicauda"
breeds in northern Scandinavia and Russia, but not eastern Siberia.
Race "pallescens"
breeds in eastern Siberia, along the Aleutian islands, to
arctic North America and Greenland.
Both races spend the northern winters above the
Southern Ocean.
While race "longicauda"
travels mostly via the Atlantic Ocean, race
"pallescens"
migrates via the Pacific Ocean (mostly the eastern Pacific, but also
down the east Asian coastlines).
While migrating, Long-tailed Jaegers are sometimes found onshore,
even in waters a short distance away from the coastlines.
In Australia Long-tailed Jaegers are found around much of the
coastline, arriving on their migration mostly along the far
east-Asian coasts from the North, reaching Australia along
the eastern seaboard from central QLD southwards. Sightings
along the northern Australian coastline from Cape York
peninsula to the NT/WA border are rare.
They are most regularly found down the south-eastern coast
of Australia, down to Tasmania, and along the South coast.
There are also reports of sightings from the West coast,
from the Kimberley southwards.
While nesting on arctic tundra and
islands,
they spend most of the rest of the year on the
high seas.
They will also occasionally enter
coastal waters,
in rare cases even near-coastal freshwater
lakes.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
Race "pallescens"
M. Eaton reports spotting an immature Long-tailed Jaeger, race
"pallescens",
at Atkinson Dam, QLD, in November 2020.
All sighting and photographic information presented on this page
has kindly been contributed by M Eaton.
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Photos |
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Race "pallescens"
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IMMATURE/JUVENILE |
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Light morphology
Near-lateral view of an immature first-year Long-tailed Jaeger
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Atkinson Dam, QLD, November 2020]
Lateral view of an immature first-year Long-tailed Jaeger
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Atkinson Dam, QLD, November 2020]
Lateral view of an immature first-year Long-tailed Jaeger
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Atkinson Dam, QLD, November 2020]
Near-dorsal view of an immature first-year Long-tailed Jaeger
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Atkinson Dam, QLD, November 2020]
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors.
The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
