Parasitic Jaeger Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesParasitic Jaeger
Adult light morph
Powerful, gull-like seabird with angular wings and full-chested look. Breeding adults have central tail feathers roughly double the length of the tail. Light morph has sharply defined dark cap with white arc near the bill, a creamy neck, and pale underparts.
© Eric Gofreed / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, June 15, 2017Adult dark morph
Gull-like seabird with powerful, acrobatic flight style. Dark morphs are uniform dark brown with bright flashes in the outer wings. Parasitic Jaegers have more white in the wing than Long-tailed, but less white than Pomarine.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, July 01, 2018Nests on arctic tundra and hunts mainly birds and their eggs. Jaegers can occur in light, intermediate, and dark morphs. Dark morphs are all chocolate brown with pale patches in the outer wing.
© Larry Arbanas / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, June 19, 2007Not all videos have sound
Juvenile dark morph
Juvenile jaegers can be very difficult to identify to species. They always lack the distinctive tail feathers of breeding adults. Parasitic Jaegers have a smallish bill, a full-chested look, and moderate white flashes in the wing.
© Maryse Neukomm / Macaulay LibraryVaud, October 24, 2020Immature light morph
Immature jaegers can be very difficult to identify. Parasitic Jaegers tend to be pale brown, particularly on the head, with little contrast on the rump. The white wing flashes appear on both the upperside and underside of the wing.
© Marky Mutchler / Macaulay LibraryMissouri, September 18, 2016Subadult light morph
Immature jaegers can be very difficult to identify. Parasitic Jaegers tend to be pale brown, particularly on the head, with little contrast on the rump. The white wing flashes are variable in size.
© Brian SullivanOctober 04, 2008Juvenile dark morph
Juvenile jaegers can be very difficult to identify. Parasitic Jaegers usually have a single white flash in each wing, whereas Long-tailed has a thin white edge to the wing and young Pomarines have a double flash in each wing.
© Jeffrey Jackson / Macaulay LibraryTexas, September 17, 2016Immature intermediate morph
Immature jaegers can be very difficult to identify. Size and shape along with fast, acrobatic flight style are most helpful but require experience. Look for the single white flash in the wings and relatively low contrast barring on the wing coverts and flanks.
© Luke SeitzMaine, August 24, 2011Adult light morph
Adult light morphs have a dark cap with a pale spot or arc just before the bill.
© Christoph Moning / Macaulay LibrarySvalbard, June 14, 2015Adult light morph
Breeds on tundra of the high Arctic.
© Christoph Moning / Macaulay LibrarySvalbard, June 14, 2015Similar SpeciesPomarine Jaeger
Adult light morph
Pomarine Jaegers are thick-chested with broad wings. They tend to fly more powerfully and less acrobatically than Parasitic Jaegers. The flash in the wings created by the white shafts of the flight feathers tends to be bigger in Pomarine Jaegers than in Parasitic.
© Luke SeitzMassachusetts, August 23, 2015Similar SpeciesPomarine Jaeger
Adult dark morph
Breeding Pomarine Jaegers have twisted, spoon-shaped central tail feathers that are broader at the tip than Parasitic Jaeger's straight tail feathers.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, June 06, 2014Similar SpeciesPomarine Jaeger
Immature light morph
Immature jaegers can be very difficult to tell apart. Pomarine Jaegers have larger bills than Parasitic and a more broad-chested, almost pot-bellied look. They have large white flashes in the underwings, often divided into a double flash with white bases to both the primaries and the primary coverts.
© Luke SeitzMassachusetts, August 22, 2015Similar SpeciesLong-tailed Jaeger
Adult
Adult Long-tailed Jaegers are more slender than Parasitic Jaegers, with lighter and more buoyant flight style. Long-tailed shows less white in the wings, particularly on the underside. Breeding adults have extremely long tail feathers that Parasitic lacks.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryAlaska, June 27, 2012Similar SpeciesLong-tailed Jaeger
Juvenile dark morph
Juvenile jaegers can be very hard to identify. Long-tailed Jaegers tend to be slimmer, with more slender, pointed wings, a short, thick bill, and less white in the underwing than Parasitic Jaegers.
© Luke SeitzMassachusetts, September 28, 2014Similar SpeciesLong-tailed Jaeger
Subadult
Long-tailed Jaegers are smaller and slimmer than Parasitic Jaegers, with less white in the underwing.
© Luke SeitzMassachusetts, August 22, 2015Similar SpeciesNorthern Fulmar
Dark morph
Northern Fulmars fly with stiffer, straighter, and narrower wings than jaegers. They tend to take a few quick wingbeats followed by a glide, unlike the acrobatic, flapping flight of jaegers.
© Matt Brady / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, October 19, 2010Similar SpeciesIceland Gull
First winter (Iceland)
Gulls such as Iceland Gulls are not as dark brown as jaegers. Gulls have broader, less pointed wings, bulkier bodies, and usually don't fly as forcefully or acrobatically as Parasitic Jaegers.
© Alvan Buckley / Macaulay LibraryNewfoundland and Labrador, February 11, 2017Rotate Your Device to Better Compare
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Species in This Family
Skuas and Jaegers(Order: Charadriiformes, Family: Stercorariidae)
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