Long-tailed Jaeger, Stercorarius longicaudis
Long-tailed Jaegers, magnificently graceful fliers, are almost never seen from land (but see the four pictures at the bottom of this page), and are rare and cherished sightings in fall migration on pelagic trips off California (see the third picture down). They winter far at sea on the temperate Southern Ocean, and, as shown in these two pictures taken near Nome, they breed on the arctic tundra, where they depend for food on the boom and bust of the breeding cycles of voles and lemmings. These flexible birds don't starve in rodent bust years; they simply abandon breeding for a season and return to their normal but little-known lives on the far-flung oceans.
An adult Long-tailed Jaeger, photographed in migration at the end of July 2011 off the California coast, about ten miles south of the Farallon Islands on a pelagic trip out of Half Moon Bay; hey, it could be the very bird shown nesting on the tundra in the two pictures at the top of this page!
As I said, Long-tailed Jaegers are rarely seen from land -- but in September 2008 this juvenile somehow got off its oceanic migratory course into San Francisco Bay, and wound up foraging for several days on one of the salt pond at the south end of the bay, a bonanza for local birders and photographers.
