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the web of life in southern Africa

Stercorarius longicaudus (Long-tailed jaeger, Long-tailed skua) 

Langstertroofmeeu [Afrikaans]; Kleinste jager [Dutch]; Labbe à longue queue [French]; Falkenraubmöwe [German]; Moleiro-de-cauda-comprida [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Charadriiformes > Family: Laridae  > Genus: Stercorarius

Stercorarius longicaudus (Long-tailed jaeger, Long-tailed skua)  Stercorarius longicaudus (Long-tailed jaeger, Long-tailed skua) 
Long-tailed jaeger in non-breeding plumage, pelagic trip off of Cape Town, South Africa. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]] Long-tailed jaeger in non-breeding plumage, pelagic trip off of Cape Town, South Africa. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]]

Distribution and habitat

Breeds in the tundra of the Arctic Circle, travelling south in the non-breeding season to the ocean above 50° South. In southern Africa it is fairly common off the southern and western coasts, mainly at the outer continental shelf and adjacent deep ocean, rarely moving closer to the coastline.

Movements and migrations

Departs from its breeding grounds in the period from August-September, mainly arriving in southern African waters in late September and eventually departing in March and April.

Food 

Mainly eats small fish, crustaceans, squid and scavenged offal, doing most of its foraging by plucking prey from the water surface. It occasionally steals the food of other birds, such as Sabine's gull, storm-petrels and prions, a practice known as kleptoparasitism.

Threats

Not threatened.

References

  • Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.