The Long-tailed Jaeger primarily feed its chicks with lemmings, and may skip breeding in years when lemmings are scarce. Its namesake feature is formed by two central feathers which extend far beyond the rest of the tail, however these feathers are generally only present in the breeding season.
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Long-tailed Jaeger
The Long-tailed Jaeger breeds widely across the Canadian Arctic and winters at sea in the Southern Hemisphere. Migrants are observed regularly off British Columbia between May and early November, and less frequently in eastern Canada during fall migration. Based on distribution of records and global abundance estimates, slightly over 20% of the global total of 1.7 million individuals likely breeds in Canada, representing a moderate level of jurisdictional responsibility. Data are currently insufficient to estimate trends or set a goal for the Canadian population.
There are no established monitoring programs that regularly survey Long-tailed Jaeger on the breeding grounds, but pelagic seabird surveys conducted since 2006 quantify abundance and distribution at sea throughout eastern and Arctic Canada (ECCC, 2020). However, an estimate of the population trend in Canada based on at-sea data is difficult to assess due to the high variability in density and uneven survey coverage.
No population goal is set for Long-tailed Jaeger because there are not enough data to estimate population trends. More monitoring is needed to enable development of a population goal for this species.
| Designation | Geographic Area | Status | CITATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| IUCN | Global | Least Concern | |
| Wild Species | Canada | Secure |
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). 2020b. Atlas of Seabirds at Sea in Eastern Canada 2006 - 2020. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/f612e2b4-5c67-46dc-9a84-1154c649ab4e.
The Long-tailed Jaeger primarily feed its chicks with lemmings, and may skip breeding in years when lemmings are scarce. Its namesake feature is formed by two central feathers which extend far beyond the rest of the tail, however these feathers are generally only present in the breeding season.
Long-tailed Jaeger is primarily reported between May and October in Canada, mostly as it migrates between its Arctic breeding grounds and the southern hemisphere where it spends the nonbreeding season at sea.
Nesting period starts between late May and early June and ends between mid-July and late July, depending on the region. Before or after this period, the probability of an active nest is lower.