Alaska Native Knowledge Network Resources for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing.

Long-tailed Jaeger : Long-tailed Jaeger Melugyuli Some of you may ask why I write about the birds I do. I wonder, myself, but I can tell you it has a lot to do with characteristics that I admire about these birds. The Long-tailed jaeger is no exception. The word jaeger is German for "hunter," and perfectly describes the nature of this predatory, hawk-like bird. I say only "hawk-like" because it is actually more closely related to the gulls we have here in Alaska. Ornithologists include it in the family Laridae, which also includes gulls, terns, skimmers and skuas. It is one of three species of jaeger found in Alaska and on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the other two being the Parasitic and Pomarine jaeger. Its Latin scientific name is Stercorarius longicaudus, which means "long-tailed scavenger." It seems Latin-speaking scientists did not appreciate the finer hunting characteristics of the jaeger as fully as German speakers did. In the names they gave this bird, Yupik speakers seem to have appreciated many more of the qualities that make this bird unique than even the Germans did. One of the Yupik names for the bird, melugyuli, means "the one who sucks (birds eggs)," referring to one of its less appreciated predatory characteristics, since in this way it competes with the Yupik people for the eggs of ducks and geese and other birds in the spring. Another name that specifically describes the Long-tailed jaeger, cungarrlutaq, loosely translates as "good old shrimplike, hawk-like bird," referring to both its shrimp-like tail and its hawk-like hunting strategies. The term of endearment, "rrlutaq," attached at the end, is probably an indication of admiration for the bird after watching it behave for countless generations in its hunting habitat. There is little wonder why Yupik people seem to both scorn and admire Long-tailed jaegers, for the birds, like the people, are extremely aggressive hunters, often chasing other birds as large as themselves with such tenacity that the pursued regurgitates its recent meal in the air. The jaeger then swiftly swoops down and picks the tidbit up in mid-flight. They may also chase down and kill young song birds and shorebirds in flight on their nesting grounds, which is the dry circumboreal tundra of Alaska, Canada, Siberia, Scandinavia and Greenland. From another point of view, no one can help but marvel at the speed and grace of jaegers as they glide and wheel and pirouette like swallows over their breeding territories. I have watched their mating flight display in both Hooper Bay and Scammon Bay, and always stood transfixed by their aerial gymnastics. Their hunting flight is equally as buoyant and graceful, as they course over the grasses and moss and wild flower-studded tundra, searching for lemmings and voles. In addition to these animals, they will eat the contents of birds eggs, as well as the young from the nests. During my summer hikes in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, I have often seen them circling low over the tundra, trying to locate the eggs or young of birds recently flushed from their nests. Insects, spiders and small fish are also a part of their menu, as are crowberries and other berries, which they fatten up on just prior to their migration to the southern hemisphere over an ocean route that is still mostly a mystery. A little about the family life of these fascinating nomadic hunters. After arriving on the Alaskan tundra in late May, the males quickly establish territories and patrol them vigilantly with the slow wing beat of an Arctic tern. The female seems to be attracted by the grace of the male's aerial displays and the fierceness of his defense of the nesting grounds. Once the mating bond is sealed, however, the two birds form a life-long monogamous relationship like that of geese, swans and cranes, rejoining each other year after year at the nest site to procreate and raise their young. While hunting either for themselves or their young, Long-tails hover like kestrels, dropping to the ground and chasing their prey on foot. When they catch a lemming or vole, they first peck it to death, then grab the belly with their claw-like beak, shaking it until the skin rips open. They then eat it, or, if they have young in the nest, take it back and regurgitate the partially digested food for the chicks to eat. Like gulls and terns, jaegers continue to feed their young even after they learn to fly. Although we know much about Long-tailed jaeger behavior during the three short months they spend in their breeding grounds in Alaska and other parts of the North, their habits for the other nine months of their lives are almost a total mystery. Which is another reason why I'm attracted to this intriguing bird. I like mysteries. » List of Yupik Birds

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, educational institution and provider is a part of the University of Alaska system. Learn more about UA's notice of nondiscriminitation.