A photo of a Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus)
Pomarine Jaeger

Pomarine Jaeger

Stercorarius pomarinus

The Pomarine Jaeger, known scientifically as Stercorarius pomarinus, is a robust seabird of the skua family Stercorariidae. It is a migrant, spending winters at sea in the tropical oceans. This large skua measures approximately 45cm in length, not including the elongated central tail feathers of the summer adult, which can add an extra 10cm. With a wingspan ranging from 110 to 138cm and a weight between 540–920g, it is larger than common gulls and presents a bulkier and broader-winged silhouette.

Identification Tips

Identifying the Pomarine Jaeger can be challenging due to its resemblance to the Parasitic Jaeger and the existence of three morphs. Light-morph adults exhibit a brown back, predominantly white underparts, and dark primary wing feathers with a distinctive white "flash". Their heads and necks are yellowish-white with a black cap. Dark morph adults are uniformly dark brown, while intermediate morphs are dark with slightly paler underparts, head, and neck. All morphs possess the white wing flash, which is particularly noticeable as a double flash on the underwing. In breeding adults, the two central tail feathers are conspicuously elongated, spoon-shaped, and twisted, setting them apart from other species. Juveniles pose an identification challenge and are best distinguished from Parasitic Jaegers by their plumage and structure at closer range.

Habitat

The Pomarine Jaeger breeds in the remote northern reaches of Eurasia and North America, favoring the Arctic tundra and islands.

Behaviour

This species is known for its aggressive defense of its nesting territory, often flying at the heads of intruders, which can be a rather alarming experience. It is also known for its piratical behavior, as it often robs other seabirds of their catches with remarkable agility.

Feeding

The diet of the Pomarine Jaeger is varied, including fish, carrion, scraps, smaller birds up to the size of common gulls, and rodents, with a particular preference for lemmings. It is an adept kleptoparasite, targeting gulls, terns, and even gannets for their food. The Great Black Backed Gull, White-Tailed Eagle, and Golden Eagle are among the few predators of healthy adult Pomarine Jaegers.

Conservation status

The Pomarine Jaeger is currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

App logo
Birda is a birdwatching app and community aimed at curious people who want to deepen their connection with nature.
Download Birda on the Apple App StoreDownload Birda on the Google Play Store

Pomarine Jaeger Fun Facts

Did you know?
Pomarine Jaegers have been recorded killing intruding Snowy Owls during breeding.

Pomarine Jaegers on Birda

Birda Logo

Your birdwatching journey like never before

Connect with nature in minutes
Take a walk, look out of the window and log the birds that you see. Feel good about those little connections to nature.
Discover the joy of birding
Find new birding spots, see more birds, share and celebrate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.
Play your part in saving nature
Logging your birding sightings and sessions turns into positive action for our planet. Every sighting counts.
What Our Birders Say
Safira V
Birding and wellbeing app
Birda is an excellent platform to share your love of Birding and is a great tool of encouragement for a Birding Beginner like me. Birda has a very kind and supportive community of Birding enthusiasts. For me BIRDA is not only a BIRDING but also a WELLBEING App.
778
Great bird recording
For a while I’ve been trying to find an app to easily record bird lists and day out and struggled to find one that I like. Birda is great for this, straightforward and a great community!
SW H
Wonderful App
Birda is my go to app for keeping records of my bird sightings and sessions. It has fantastic information which is great at aiding identification. With all the updates that are coming in the new year, this app is something special.
Alex J
Friendly and helps to identify birds
Great birding app, good for logging your sightings, also has nice species guide. I'm enjoying the social aspect more than I expected, everyone seems friendly and helps to identify unknown birds. Good mix of newbies and experienced users.
Stewart W
Fantastic to be involved
Fantastic to be involved, great for mental health and gets you responding with the Challenges that are to takd part in.
Nick S
Work together with community
Been loving using this app to log my bird sightings and work together with community members to identify different birds. I've already learned a lot since I started about a month ago!
Emcil24
A Friendly Place
I love using the bird app, I have a pretty good knowledge of birds. But I do have some gaps in it, so it’s nice to have a safe space to check on a sighting to confirm the species. It’s really enjoyable and I love the badges you can collect. It’s like a real life Pokémon go.
Sacha0508
Simply fantastic
I love this app, it puts so much fun into recording the birds I’ve seen and heard while I’m out and about. The interface is user-friendly and suitable for all ages. It’s great to collect badges and to review my “lists”.
Leonie
We've been waiting for an App like this
Excellent! We've been waiting for an app like this! Thank you! It would be nice if you could assign additional birds to sessions later!
Foxgirl100
Great app for beginner twitchers
I’ve had a passion of photographing birds for a long time now but have only just gotten into proper birdwatching, and this app is brilliant for those just getting started. There is a great sense of community among users and the app is very easy to use and professional. Awesome app altogether
As featured in
BBC RadioABC NewsFox NewsForbesTimeoutAndroid CentralBirdWatching DailyPetapixel