The long-tailed jaeger or long-tailed skua is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae.
Region
Arctic Circumpolar
Typical Environment
Breeds across open Arctic tundra, favoring dry, elevated heath or moor areas with sparse vegetation and good visibility. Outside the breeding season it is highly pelagic, ranging widely over northern oceans and into temperate and even subtropical waters offshore. It typically remains far from land while wintering, following productive oceanic fronts and upwelling zones. During migration it can occur along broad oceanic corridors and occasionally be seen from coasts after storms.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1200 m
Climate Zone
Polar
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The long-tailed jaeger (long-tailed skua) is the smallest and most graceful of the skuas, with distinctive elongated central tail streamers in breeding plumage. It is an agile aerial hunter and a skilled kleptoparasite, often harrying other seabirds to steal food. It breeds on Arctic tundra but spends most of the year far out at sea, undertaking long transoceanic migrations. Its buoyant, tern-like flight helps it cover vast pelagic distances efficiently.
Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
Long-tailed jaeger in flight
Long-tailed jaeger illustration by Johann Friedrich Naumann
Temperament
solitary and territorial when breeding; bold and highly aerial
Flight Pattern
buoyant, tern-like flight with long glides and agile twists
Social Behavior
Breeds in solitary pairs or loose, widely spaced groups on open tundra. Both sexes share incubation and chick-rearing, nesting on the ground with minimal lining. Often engages in kleptoparasitism at sea but also hunts independently for small prey.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Vocalizations include sharp, yelping and mewing calls, especially near the nest or during aerial displays. Alarm calls are harsh and scolding, delivered while stooping at intruders.
Plumage
Slim-bodied with a smooth grey mantle, clean white underparts, dark cap, and long, narrow wings; breeding adults show very long, pointed central tail streamers and a pale creamy-yellow wash on the neck. Non-breeding and juvenile birds are browner and more mottled, with shorter or absent tail streamers.
Diet
On the breeding grounds it takes small mammals (especially lemmings), insects, and occasionally small birds or eggs. At sea it captures small fish and squid near the surface and frequently steals prey from terns and gulls. It will also pick scraps and offal where available.
Preferred Environment
Forages over open tundra by coursing low and pouncing, and over pelagic waters by patrolling above the surface. Often follows convergences and upwelling lines offshore and may attend feeding flocks of seabirds.
