Long-tailed jaeger

Stercorarius longicaudus Vieillot, 1819

The long-tailed jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), also called Long-tailed skua or Buffon’s jaeger, is a bird in the family Stercorariidae and the order Charadriiformes. It is a small, migratory, aerial carnivore of marine habitats, classed as an aquatic predator.

Photo: Jerzy Strzelecki · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the long-tailed jaeger

Adults weigh from 269.9 to 307.2 g, with a representative mass of 287.9 g and a wingspan of 1 m. It lays 2 eggs per clutch, one clutch per year, incubated for 23 days, and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Weight: 269.9 g – 307.2 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Wingspan: 1 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 11 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 22 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 23 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 2src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 3.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle: Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the long-tailed jaeger?

At 1 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the long-tailed jaeger is about 59% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the long-tailed jaeger

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Long-tailed jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus) — Stephan Sprinz · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the long-tailed jaeger live?

Not recorded

What is the long-tailed jaeger?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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

From the Wikipedia article “Long-tailed jaeger” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Long-tailed_jaeger&oldid=1375970417), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the long-tailed jaeger endangered?

The long-tailed jaeger is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the long-tailed jaeger classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderCharadriiformes
familyStercorariidae
genusStercorarius
SpeciesStercorarius longicaudus Vieillot, 1819

Synonyms Lestris brachyrhynchos, Lestris longicauda, Letris buffonii, Stercararius lessonii

Other names and names in other languages (99)

Arctic JagerEnglish
Arctic YagerEnglish
Buffon’s jaegerEnglish
Gull-teaserEnglish
Long-tailed skuaEnglish
Long-tailed skuaEnglish
LangstertroofmeeuAfrikaans
LamgstertroofmeeuAfrikaans
كركر طويل الذيلArabic
الكركر طويل الذيلArabic
cágalu rabuduAsturian
Cágalu RabullarguAsturian
Даўгахвосты паморнікBelarusian
Даўгахвосты паморнiкBelarusian
Малък морелетникBulgarian
Дългоопашат морелетникBulgarian
Sparfell-vor lostekBreton
Ar sparfell-vor lostekBreton
Paràsit coallargCatalan
paràsit cuallargCatalan
chaluha maláCzech
sgiwen lostfainWelsh
Sgiwennod LlostfainWelsh
lille kjoveDanish
FalkenraubmöweGerman
Kleine RaubmöweGerman
ΒελονοληστόγλαροςGreek
longvosta rabmevoEsperanto
Págalo raberoSpanish
Págalo ColilargoSpanish
Salteador cola largaSpanish
Salteador coludoSpanish
Salteador de cola largaSpanish
pikksaba-ännEstonian
Marikoi isatsluzeBasque
Marikoi isatsluzeaBasque
کاکایی اقیانوسی دم درازPersian
tunturikihuFinnish
KjógviFaroese
SnældukjógviFaroese
Labbe à longue queueFrench
Meirleach fadearrachIrish
Fàsgadair StiureachScottish Gaelic
Fàsgadair stiùreachScottish Gaelic
meirleach earrfhadaScottish Gaelic
Palleira rabilongaGalician
Maarliagh fammanaghManx
Maarliagh marrey fammanaghManx
Lab ke longHaitian Creole
חמסן זנבתןHebrew
nyílfarkú halfarkasHungarian
Որոր ծովահեն երկարապոչArmenian
Camar-kejar kecilIndonesian
Burung Camar-kejar KecilIndonesian
IshungakInuktitut
FjallkjóiIcelandic
Labbo codalungaItalian
シロハラトウゾクカモメJapanese
papikkaaqKalaallisut
좀도둑갈매기Korean
긴꼬리도둑갈매기Korean
Kleng SkuaLuxembourgish
ilgauodegis plėšikasLithuanian
Uodeguotasis plėšikasLithuanian
garastes klijkaijaLatvian
SombelavaramboMalagasy
കോഴിവാലൻ സ്കുവMalayalam
Ċiefa Denbha TwilMaltese
Burung Pelangi EkorMalay
kleinste jagerDutch
fjelljoNorwegian Nynorsk
Saltadó Rabo LargoPapiamento
Saltadó Rabu LarguPapiamento
wydrzyk długosternyPolish
moleiro-rabilongoPortuguese
mandrião-de-cauda-compridaPortuguese
Moleiro-de-cauda-compridaPortuguese
Muetta da la cua lungaRomansh
Lup de mare codatRomanian
Длиннохвостый поморникRussian
SkáitiNorthern Sami
fáskilNorthern Sami
háskilNorthern Sami
ribbeskáitiNorthern Sami
rikčaNorthern Sami
pomorník malýSlovak
Dolgorepa govnackaSlovenian
dolgorepa govnačkaSlovenian
Dugorepi pomornikSerbian
Dugorepi pomornik - Дугорепи поморникSerbian
fjällabbSwedish
Skua Mkia-mrefuSwahili
นกสกัวหางยาวThai
นกเจเกอร์หางยาวThai
uzun kuyruklu korsan martıTurkish
Довгохвостий поморникUkrainian
Поморник довгохвостийUkrainian
長尾賊鷗Chinese
长尾贼鸥Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the long-tailed jaeger

Other species in the same genus Stercorarius.

Parasitic jaeger

Stercorarius parasiticus

Stercorariidae

Great skua

Stercorarius skua

Stercorariidae

Pomarine jaeger

Stercorarius pomarinus

Stercorariidae

South polar skua

Stercorarius maccormicki

Stercorariidae

Brown skua

Stercorarius antarcticus

Stercorariidae

Chilean skua

Stercorarius chilensis

Stercorariidae

CompareLong-tailed jaeger vs Parasitic jaeger Long-tailed jaeger vs Great skua Long-tailed jaeger vs Pomarine jaeger Long-tailed jaeger vs South polar skua

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the long-tailed jaeger?

The long-tailed jaeger is a bird in the family Stercorariidae, order Charadriiformes. It is migratory and lives in marine habitats.

How heavy is a long-tailed jaeger?

Adults weigh from 269.9 to 307.2 g, with a representative value of 287.9 g. Its wingspan is 1 m.

What does the long-tailed jaeger eat?

It is a carnivore classed as an aquatic predator, foraging in the air.

Is the long-tailed jaeger endangered?

No. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does a long-tailed jaeger live?

Its lifespan is 11 years, with values up to 22 years reported by sources.

How many eggs does the long-tailed jaeger lay?

It lays 2 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year, with an incubation period of 23 days.

When does the long-tailed jaeger reach sexual maturity?

It reaches sexual maturity at 3.5 years (1,278 days).

Who named the long-tailed jaeger?

Its scientific name, Stercorarius longicaudus, was given by Vieillot, 1819.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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<iframe src="https://creaturedata.com/embed/animals/long-tailed-jaeger" title="Long-tailed jaeger on CreatureData" width="360" height="520" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Long-tailed jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-jaeger

MLA

“Long-tailed jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-jaeger.

BibTeX

@misc{long_tailed_jaeger_2026,
  title = {Long-tailed jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-jaeger},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}