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==Habitat== | ==Habitat== | ||
− | Nests on Arctic tundra. Spends winters over open ocean, usually staying offshore, and very rarely found inland. | + | Nests on Arctic tundra. Spends winters over open ocean, usually staying offshore, and very rarely found inland. However, in migration, and especially in central and northern Europe, a juvenile skua found inland on a barren field should be considered a Long-tailed Skua until proven otherwise. |
==Behaviour== | ==Behaviour== | ||
[[Image:Long tailed skua juv.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Photo by {{user|scottishdude|scottishdude }}<br />"Dark phase" Juvenile, photographed at Shelford, [[:Category:Nottinghamshire|Nottingham]], [[UK]]]] | [[Image:Long tailed skua juv.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Photo by {{user|scottishdude|scottishdude }}<br />"Dark phase" Juvenile, photographed at Shelford, [[:Category:Nottinghamshire|Nottingham]], [[UK]]]] | ||
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#museum.gov.ns.ca | #museum.gov.ns.ca | ||
#Collins Field Guide 5th Edition | #Collins Field Guide 5th Edition | ||
+ | #[http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1590497 Birdforum thread] discussing id of a dark juvenile | ||
==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
{{GSearch|Stercorarius+longicaudus}} | {{GSearch|Stercorarius+longicaudus}} | ||
[[Category:Birds]] [[Category:Stercorarius]][[Category:Bird Songs]] | [[Category:Birds]] [[Category:Stercorarius]][[Category:Bird Songs]] |
Revision as of 03:22, 19 September 2009
This article is incomplete. This article is missing one or more sections. You can help the BirdForum Opus by expanding it. |
Alternative name: Long-tailed Skua
- Stercorarius longicaudus
Identification
50-55cm (including tail projection of 12-20cm)
Adult
- Smallest and scarecest jaeger
- Gray upperparts
- White breast
- Gray belly
- Black cap (which covers eyes and chin and ends at yellow nape
- Upperwings are dark-edged
- Gray tail with black edges and long, black streamers
- Blue-gray legs with webbed feet
Sexes similar
Juvenile is heavily barred and spotted gray with white patches on underwings, white throat, white belly, and dark-tipped gray bill
Dark phase juvenile is darker overall, with gray throat, and without white belly.
Distribution
Breeds from Alaska to Greenland and south to the northern Ungava Peninsula.
Winters off the coasts of the southern U.S. and South America.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Nests on Arctic tundra. Spends winters over open ocean, usually staying offshore, and very rarely found inland. However, in migration, and especially in central and northern Europe, a juvenile skua found inland on a barren field should be considered a Long-tailed Skua until proven otherwise.
Behaviour
Breeding
Breeding is reliant upon the availability of lemmings and mice, its principal summer food.
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Stercorarius longicaudus (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
References
- What Bird
- museum.gov.ns.ca
- Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
- Birdforum thread discussing id of a dark juvenile