Stercorarius longicaudus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The long-tailed jaeger or long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. The word "jaeger" is derived from the German word Jäger, meaning "hunter". The English word "skua" comes from the Faroese name skúgvur [ˈskɪkvʊər] for the great skua, with the island of Skúvoy known for its colony of that bird. The general Faroese term for skuas is kjógvi [ˈtʃɛkvə]. 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 longus, "long", and cauda, "tail".
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... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svalbard | 🇳🇴 Norway | |
| 2 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Jaeger sighting in Kenai Fjords National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 77th most-seen of the 99 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Long-tailed Jaeger sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Long-tailed Jaeger sightings, Kenai Fjords National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Svalbard (Norway, about 10%) and Denali National Park (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Long-tailed Jaeger is recorded against all the birds logged in Kenai Fjords National Park (16 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
