Appearance:

Small and agile gull with all black wing-tips, black legs (adults) and yellow bill. Area close to wing-tips much paler than rest of wings, and often visible at surprisingly long range (more so than the black tips). Adult winter with grey neck and black half-collar. Juveniles with black zig-zag pattern to wings, resembling pattern seen in Little Gull, Ross's Gull and Sabine's Gull. Differs from those in; no dark bar on secondaries, underparts of wing white, back grey, black on primaries reaches wing-tip. Flight action different from larger gulls; fast, stiff wing-beats and elegant maneuvering even in strong winds.

Sound:

Highly vocal at breeding ground. A mewing "kitti-wake", with the pitch rising on the second drawn out syllable, and then falling. Generally silent elsewhere, except when squabbling over food.

Contact call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Stein Ø. Nilsen,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

Breeding plumaged adults with streamers unmistakable (streamers comprising two thirds of total tail length). Adult plumage shows less variation than in other skuas. No hint of breast band, and transition between pale belly and darker vent very diffuse. No white patches at base of primaries of underwing in adults. Juveniles easily confused with juvenile Arctic Skua, but are more slender. Wings narrower and primaries and tail longer. Juvenile Arctic Skua shows white patches at base of primaries on both sides of wings, juvenile Long-tailed only on underwing, and on first few primaries of upper. Barred rump and tail coverts in juveniles. Flight elegant and buoyant.

Sound:

Calls sharp and less full-bodied than Arctic Skua, and not so mewing. Short, double-accented "kew-wev" or short "kerk" in agitation. Also a long drawn-out "keeeeaah", resembling both Arctic Skua and Common Gull.

Alarm/flight call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Andrew Spencer,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license