Stercorarius longicaudus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Jaeger sighting in Svalbard on a given day, based on 154 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 25th most-seen of the 48 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March and May–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Jaeger in Svalbard on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month. November to January have too few records to rate.
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.
Yes
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Long-tailed Jaeger sightings, Svalbard has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Denali National Park (United States, about 10%) and Kenai Fjords National Park (United States, under 5%).
Same genus: Stercorarius
The closest relatives of the Long-tailed Jaeger that you can see in Svalbard (genus Stercorarius, Skuas and Jaegers) are Parasitic Jaeger (about 80%) and Great Skua (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Long-tailed Jaeger is recorded against all the birds logged in Svalbard (154 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.
