Bird Album
Parasitic Jaeger
Stercorarius parasiticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
≈48 cmLength106 cmWingspan444 gWeight
This bird shows flashes of white on its wings and steals food from gulls and terns.
Busiest months: September · Most records: United States, United Kingdom, Canada
Looks like Long-tailed Jaeger
How to identify
Field marks
- White wing patches in all color morphs
- Pale-morph adult has a black crown and yellowish-white head and neck
- Pale-morph adult has a brown back and mostly white underparts
- Dark-morph adult has dark brown body feathers
Voice
A nasal, cat-like mewing call, repeated several times during display.
Similar species
Where and when it's recorded
Busiest months: September · Most records: United States, United Kingdom, Canada
Parasitic Jaeger has been recorded at 891 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 101 countries and regions.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Cape Island – CMP – Coral Ave. dune crossingUnited States2,932 records
- GambellUnited States2,091 records
- Pt. Pinos – seawatch onlyUnited States1,891 records
More places
- Estaca de Bares – Observatorio de aves y entornoSpain1,718 records
- St. Paul IslandUnited States1,429 records
- Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States1,195 records
- Eilat north beachIsrael1,103 records
- ChurchillCanada1,030 records
- Point No PointUnited States882 records
- Bridges of RossIreland850 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 parasitic jaeger or arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), also known as the parasitic skua or arctic jaeger, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is a migratory species breeding in Northern Fennoscandia, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia and wintering across the southern hemisphere. Kleptoparasitism is a major source of food for this species during migration and winter, and is where the name is derived from.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Parasitic Jaeger?
The Parasitic Jaeger is about ≈48 cm long, with a wingspan of 106 cm and weighs around 444 g.
Where does the Parasitic Jaeger live?
Its breeding range: North America, Palearctic: Holarctic low Arctic tundra, locally high Arctic and subarctic: western, southern Greenland, Iceland, northern Scotland, Scandinavian coasts including Baltic Sea, Svalbard (north of Norway), northern Russia to northeastern Siberia and Kamchatka, Aleutian and Bering Sea islands, western and southwestern Alaska, Arctic Canada (except northern high Arctic islands) to Baffin Island and east-central Canada. It is most often recorded in United States, United Kingdom and Canada.
When is the best time to see the Parasitic Jaeger?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in September (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Parasitic Jaeger endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Parasitic Jaeger as Least Concern.
What does the Parasitic Jaeger eat?
Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.
What family is the Parasitic Jaeger in?
It belongs to the family Skuas (Stercorariidae), order Charadriiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- ≈48 cm
- Wingspan
- 106 cm
- Weight
- 444 g
- Habitat
- Ocean
- Diet
- Fish, shrimp & shellfish
- Lifestyle
- Feeds in the air
- Migration
- Migratory
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 310 mm
- Tail
- 172 mm
- Bill
- 36 mm
- Tarsus
- 42 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
North America, Palearctic: Holarctic low Arctic tundra, locally high Arctic and subarctic: western, southern Greenland, Iceland, northern Scotland, Scandinavian coasts including Baltic Sea, Svalbard (north of Norway), northern Russia to northeastern Siberia and Kamchatka, Aleutian and Bering Sea islands, western and southwestern Alaska, Arctic Canada (except northern high Arctic islands) to Baffin Island and east-central Canada
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 Rob Wadsworth. ↗
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