Parasitic Jaeger, Stercorarius parasiticus


Parasitic Jaeger
Parasitics are the jaegers most often seen from shore; their name comes from the fact that they make their living by harassing fish-catching birds into surrendering captured fish. (Off the California coast, they most often target Elegant Terns.) Parasitic Jaegers are intermediate in size between the larger Pomarine and smaller Long-tailed Jaegers, both of which usually remain well out to sea. Two of them, shown above and below at sunrise, worked from the east end of Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz in Fall of 2014 and gave local birders and photographers unusually close views.

Parasitic Jaeger

Parasitic Jaegers
The two standing next to each other.

Parasitic Jaeger
Flight shots of the two Santa Cruz birds; the one above is in mid-molt with many worn flight feathers, while the one below shows a nearly completed molt with mostly fresh basic plumage. The few patterned underwing coverts of the bird below probably means that it is a subadult bird, though the plumages of later subadults among the jaegers are not fully understood.

Parasitic Jaeger

Parasitic Jaeger
Adult, above; juvenile, below; both out at sea.


Parasitic Jaeger