Pomarine Jaeger - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by postcardcv
Salthouse, Norfolk, England, November 2007

Alternative Name: Pomarine Skua

Stercorarius pomarinus

Identification

53cm including 8cm tail projection of broad twisted streamers

Dark phased
Photo © by IanF North Gare, Seaton Carew, Cleveland, UK, November 2007

Pale Adult

• Black cap
• Dark upper parts
• White underneath with brown breast band and flank bars
• White flash on outer wing

Dark Adult all dusky-brown body
Juveniles and immature variably mottled buff/brown

Similar Species

• Arctic Skua

Distribution

Far north of Eurasia and North America. It is a migrant, wintering at sea in the tropical oceans.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

First year bird
Photo © by storensten
Oberkirch, Switzerland, December 2010

Habitat

It nests on arctic tundra and islands

Behaviour

Breeding

It lays 2-3 olive-brown eggs in grass lined depressions.

Diet

Its diet includes lemmings and other rodents on the breeding grounds.

It will also kill birds up to the size of Common Gull.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Wikipedia
3. Birdwatchers Pocket Guide ISBN 1-85732-804-3
4. Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds 1966
5. Collins Field Guid 5th Edition

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Pomarine Jaeger. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 June 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Pomarine_Jaeger

External Links

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