The long-tailed jaeger or long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae.

Etymology

The word "jaeger" is derived from the German word , meaning "hunter". The English word "skua" comes from the Faroese name for the great skua, with the island of Skúvoy known for its colony of that bird. The general Faroese term for skuas is . The genus name Stercorarius is Latin and means "of dung"; the food disgorged by other birds when pursued by skuas was once thought to be excrement. The specific longicaudus is from Latin , "long", and , "tail".

thumb|Eggs, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden]]

Description

thumb|left|Long-tailed jaeger in flight

This species is unmistakable as an adult, with grey back, dark primary wing feathers without a white "flash", black cap and very long tail. Adults often hover over their breeding territories. Juveniles are much more problematic, and are difficult to separate from parasitic jaeger over the sea. They are slimmer, longer-winged and more tern-like than that species, but show the same wide range of plumage variation. However, they are usually colder toned than Arctic, with greyer shades, rather than brown.

This is the smallest of the skua family at , depending on season and age. However up to of its length can be made up by the tail which may include the tail streamers of the summer adult. The wingspan of this species ranges from and the body mass is .

Subspecies

Two subspecies are described:

  • Long-tailed jaeger photos at Oiseaux.net