Parasitic jaeger | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Stercorariidae |
Genus: | Stercorarius |
Species: | S. parasiticus
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Binomial name | |
Stercorarius parasiticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Synonyms | |
Larus parasiticus Linnaeus, 1758 |
The parasitic jaeger (North America) or Arctic skua (Europe) (Stercorarius parasiticus), is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is a migratory species that breeds in Northern Scandinavia, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia and winters 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.