Long-tailed Jaeger

How to find it

Boat trips offshore are the way to see jaegers in Costa Rica. There are no regularly scheduled pelagic trips, so birders arrange deals with fishing boats to reach deep water. A pelagic day out of Cabuya on the Pacific side turned up a juvenile, alongside Pomarine Jaegers, Sabine's Gulls and storm-petrels. The short Puntarenas to Paquera ferry is another way to see seabirds, and a jaeger is possible. Watch near fishing boats and over surface schools of small fish.

How to recognise it

Adults are grey above, with a black cap and dark outer wing feathers. The wings lack the white flash of other jaegers. An adult is easy to pick out by its black cap, white collar and long tail.

It is the smallest jaeger, with long, slender, pointed wings and a fairly short, thick bill. Breeding adults carry very long tail streamers, but only breeding adults do, so few birds show them outside the breeding season.

Many birds seen away from the nesting grounds lack the long central tail feathers, which makes shape and plumage the better guide. Young birds are usually greyer rather than brown, with a smaller bill and head and a barred rump.

Behaviour and diet

Look for a small, buoyant bird with slow, light wingbeats, often flying fairly high. It is the most graceful of the three jaegers in flight and less aggressive than the others, stealing food from other seabirds less often.

Outside the breeding season it stays highly pelagic, usually at least ten miles from land. It is often found near schools of small fish at the surface and near fishing boats. It sometimes hovers briefly before taking insects or fish.

Where it lives

On its breeding grounds it uses dry Arctic tundra. It is a migrant that winters at sea, and it spends over three-quarters of its life on the ocean.

In Costa Rica it is a bird of open water. Seabirds here are poorly studied, and records come mostly from the coast and from Isla del Coco National Park. Two Caribbean records come from Tortuguero, and on the Pacific side open-water trips off Cabuya have found it.

When to see it

The Long-tailed Jaeger may pass the Caribbean side of Costa Rica on its return trip north, and researchers point to March to May as the migration window where more observations could show regular use. One exhausted young bird was found on a Tortuguero beach on 7 March 1997.

Similar birds

Juveniles are hard to tell from Parasitic Jaeger over the sea. Long-tailed is slimmer, longer-winged and more tern-like, usually greyer rather than brown. Telling the three jaegers apart in immature and non-breeding plumage remains a frustrating challenge, so be patient.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Págalo Colilargo, and a Spanish list also gives the variant Págalo Rabero. An unidentified jaeger is simply called a págalo.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rica bird list gives the Long-tailed Jaeger status A, meaning accidental.

Photography tips

Fishing vessels are a good place to watch for it. Its habit of hovering briefly before taking insects or fish may give a chance for a steadier look.