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Long-tailed Jaeger | Stercorarius longicaudus
Kleinste jager | Págalo rabero
The Long-tailed Jaeger is the slimmest and most tern-like of the jaegers. It breeds on the high Arctic tundra and migrates far offshore across the Atlantic to wintering areas in the South Atlantic. In the Caribbean it is a very rare vagrant; because migration takes place mostly far out at sea, it is likely that not every passing bird is noticed.
Voice
Almost silent away from the breeding grounds. At the breeding site a high, plaintive kleee and dry, rattling calls.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
35–41 cm, plus up to 15 cm of greatly elongated, flexible central tail feathers in breeding adults. Small and slender, with narrow wings, a short, thin bill and a light, buoyant flight. Adults have a sharply defined black cap, a white breast fading to grey on the belly, no breast band, and grey-brown upperparts that contrast with the dark trailing edge of the wing. On the upperwing only two or three primary shafts are white; the underwing is uniformly dark. Juveniles are cold grey-brown to almost black, with a pale greyish head, bold pale barring on rump and undertail, and short, blunt central tail feathers.
Confusion species
Parasitic Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus is bulkier, with broader wings, a more obvious white primary flash, a breast band in many pale birds and shorter, pointed tail feathers; juveniles are usually warmer brown. Pomarine Jaeger Stercorarius pomarinus is much larger and heavier. In flight an adult Long-tailed Jaeger can recall a tern, but terns have pale wings and a different bill.
Habitat
Open ocean, well beyond the continental shelf. Outside the breeding season it feeds on fish, squid and scraps from the sea surface and chases other birds less often than the larger jaegers; on the tundra it lives mainly on lemmings.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Rarely to very rarely reported around the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Aruba, mostly from ships or on seawatches. Beyond the region it breeds circumpolarly on the tundra and in the Scandinavian mountains and winters at sea in the southern Atlantic and Pacific, including off Argentina and southern Africa.
How and when to look
Chances are best on pelagic trips and seawatches during migration. In juveniles, which are the birds most often seen far offshore, the cold grey tone, the two or three white primary shafts and the heavily barred undertail matter more than tail length.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The world population is large and the breeding grounds are remote. Breeding success depends strongly on lemming cycles. In the Caribbean a very rare visitor with no regular presence.
Scientific name
Stercorarius longicaudus | Vieillot, 1819
Vieillot described the species in 1819 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Stercorarius was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. Stercorarius is Latin for 'of dung', from stercus 'dung': the food disgorged by seabirds when pursued by skuas was once taken for excrement. longicaudus is Latin, from longus 'long' and cauda 'tail', after the long central tail feathers of the adult. The specimen the first description was based on came from northern Europe.