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Long-tailed Jaeger

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Photo: Kristine Sowl, USFWS · Public domain

Stercorarius longicaudus

The long-tailed jaeger, or long-tailed skua, is the smallest of the skuas, 38–58 cm long depending on season and age, of which up to 29 cm can be tail, including the 15 cm streamers of the summer adult. The wingspan is 102–117 cm and the body mass 230–444 g. Adults are unmistakable, with a grey back, dark primaries without a white flash, a black cap and a very long tail, and they are slimmer, longer-winged and more tern-like than the Arctic skua (Wikipedia, general species account). (Wikipedia, general species account).

They nest on dry tundra or higher fells, laying two spotted olive-brown eggs, and feed mainly on lemmings near nesting sites, sometimes on insects and birds. At sea they catch fish and other small prey at the surface (Wikipedia, general species account). The English word "skua" comes from the Faroese name skúgvur for the great skua, with the island of Skúvoy known for its colony of that bird. (Wikipedia, general species account).

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