Bird Album
Long-tailed Jaeger
Stercorarius longicaudus Vieillot, 1819
≈47 cmLength100 cmWingspan288 gWeight
With a gray back, black cap and very long tail, the adult is readily identified at a glance.
Busiest months: June · Most records: United States, Spain, Canada
Looks like Parasitic Jaeger
How to identify
Field marks
- Back gray
- Black cap on the crown
- Tail very long, with long tail feathers in summer
- Primaries dark, without white flashes
Male, female and young
Adult is easy to identify; juvenile is much more difficult, with highly variable plumage.
Voice
Shrieks and rattles on the breeding grounds; a harsh “kreeah” call at sea.
Similar species
Where and when it's recorded
Busiest months: June · Most records: United States, Spain, Canada
Long-tailed Jaeger has been recorded at 300 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 54 countries and regions.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- GambellUnited States1,914 records
- St. Paul IslandUnited States883 records
- Estaca de Bares – Observatorio de aves y entornoSpain824 records
More places
- Bridges of RossIreland194 records
- Eilat north beachIsrael180 records
- Baie-du-FebvreCanada158 records
- ChurchillCanada146 records
- Ngor – Hotel Le CalaoSenegal123 records
- Eaglehawk Neck Pelagic TripAustralia111 records
- Spurn Bird Observatory Recording AreaUnited Kingdom97 records
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
About
The long-tailed jaeger or long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Long-tailed Jaeger?
The Long-tailed Jaeger is about ≈47 cm long, with a wingspan of 100 cm and weighs around 288 g.
Where does the Long-tailed Jaeger live?
Its breeding range: North America, Palearctic: Holarctic high and low Arctic tundra, locally subarctic: northwestern, southeastern Greenland, Arctic northern Scandinavia to northeastern Siberia and Kamchatka (eastern Russia); Arctic and western, southern Alaska through Arctic Canada to Ellesmere and Baffin islands. It is most often recorded in United States, Spain and Canada.
When is the best time to see the Long-tailed Jaeger?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in June (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Long-tailed Jaeger endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Long-tailed Jaeger as Least Concern.
What does the Long-tailed Jaeger eat?
Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.
What family is the Long-tailed Jaeger in?
It belongs to the family Skuas (Stercorariidae), order Charadriiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- ≈47 cm
- Wingspan
- 100 cm
- Weight
- 288 g
- Habitat
- Ocean
- Diet
- Fish, shrimp & shellfish
- Lifestyle
- Feeds in the air
- Migration
- Migratory
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 302 mm
- Tail
- 246 mm
- Bill
- 33 mm
- Tarsus
- 41 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
North America, Palearctic: Holarctic high and low Arctic tundra, locally subarctic: northwestern, southeastern Greenland, Arctic northern Scandinavia to northeastern Siberia and Kamchatka (eastern Russia); Arctic and western, southern Alaska through Arctic Canada to Ellesmere and Baffin islands
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Skuas Stercorariidae
- Genus
- Stercorarius
Other birds in the genus Stercorarius
Pomarine JaegerStercorarius pomarinus
Great SkuaStercorarius skua
Chilean SkuaStercorarius chilensis
Brown SkuaStercorarius antarcticus
South Polar SkuaStercorarius maccormicki
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Manuel Ruedi. ↗
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