The Long-tailed Jaeger is the most slender and graceful jaeger, with enormously elongated central tail feathers in breeding adults — sometimes exceeding the body length. It is less piratical than the other jaegers and more dependent on catching its own food. Breeding adults subsist primarily on lemmings; if lemming populations crash, breeding is abandoned entirely for that year.
Best time to see a Long-tailed Jaeger
The best time to see a Long-tailed Jaeger is May–July, when about 60% of U.S. sightings happen, based on 556 research-grade iNaturalist observations.
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Recent Long-tailed Jaeger sightings near you
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