Long-tailed jaegers are socially monogamous and form long-term pair bonds. Males will loudly compete for mates. Male long-tailed jaegers will also present food items to females and the females exhibit a hunched posture to accept the food. Pairs also perform aerial displays.
Mating System: monogamous
The breeding season usually begins around June and lasts through August. Breeding is dependent on food availability; if food is scarce they will choose not to breed and return to their pelagic lifestyle. Pairs lay a maximum of two eggs during a season. The eggs are laid directly on the ground, in a scrape nest constructed by both parents. It is speculated that long-tailed jaegers do not use nest materials because they use their highly vascularized feet to incubate eggs.
Eggs are incubated mainly by the female for 23 to 25 days. Eggs are carefully balanced on top of the feet of the incubating parent. Chicks are born downy and with eyes open but unable to feed themselves (semiprecocial). Hatchlings usually stay in the nest for one or two days before leaving. They typically take shelter under shrubs to remain hidden but never travel very far from the nest. Chicks will fledge at 22 to 28 days, but both parents continue to tend the young for up to 3 weeks post-fledging.
Breeding interval: Long-tailed jaegers breed once yearly if adequate food resources are available.
Breeding season: Long-tailed jaegers breed between June and August.
Range eggs per season: 0 to 2.
Range time to hatching: 23 to 25 days.
Range fledging age: 22 to 28 days.
Range time to independence: 1.5 to 2 months.
Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
Both male and female long-tailed jaegers participate in nest building, but the females perform most or all of the incubation. Once eggs have hatched, females remain near the nest at all times to defend and brood the young while the males fly off and hunt. Upon returning the female, and chicks, assume the same hunched posture seen in courtship to request food. The male then regurgitates a food item for them and the female accepts it and shares with the young. Parents continue to tend the young until 3 weeks after they've fledged.
Parental Investment: precocial ; male parental care ; female parental care ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female)