Parasitic jaeger
| Parasitic jaeger | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Stercorariidae |
| Genus: | Stercorarius |
| Species: | S. parasiticus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Stercorarius parasiticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Larus parasiticus Linnaeus, 1758 | |
The parasitic jaeger or arctic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus), also known as the parasitic skua or arctic skua in Europe, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is a migratory species breeding in Northern Fennoscandia, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia and wintering across the southern hemisphere. Kleptoparasitism is a major source of food for this species during migration and winter, and is where the name is derived from.