Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2022 | 14(1): 20534–20536
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7048.14.1.20534-20536
#7048 | Received 04
January 2021 | Final received 31 August 2021 | Finally accepted 10 January 2022
First record of Parasitic Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus
(Aves: Charadriiformes: Stercorariidae)
from inland freshwater Inle Lake, Myanmar
Sai Sein Lin Oo
1, Myint Kyaw 2, L.C.K. Yun 3, Min Zaw Tun 4, Yar Zar Lay Naung
5, Soe Naing Aye 6 & Swen C. Renner 7
1 Department of Zoology, University
of Mandalay, 05032 Maha Aung Myay
Township, Mandalay, Myanmar.
2 Popa Mountain Park, Kyaukpadaung, Mandalay Region, Myanmar.
3–6 Nature and Wildlife Conservation
Division, Inlay Wildlife Sanctuary, Myanmar.
7 Ornithology, Natural History
Museum Vienna, Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
1 seinlinu@gmail.com, 2 myintkyawpopa@gmail.com,
3 lkcyun@gmail.com, 4 minzawhtun.ilws@gmail.com, 5 yarzarlaynaung@gmail.com,
6 soenaingaye571@gmail.com, 7 swen.renner@nhm-wien.ac.at
(corresponding author)
Editor: Christoph Zöckler, Manfred-Hermsen
Foundation, Bremen, Germany. Date
of publication: 26 January 2022 (online & print)
Citation: Oo,
S.S.L., M. Kyaw, L.C.K. Yun, M.Z. Tun, Y.Z.L. Naung, S.N. Aye &
S.C. Renner (2022). First record of Parasitic Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus
(Aves: Charadriiformes: Stercorariidae)
from inland Freshwater Inle Lake, Myanmar. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(1): 20534–20536. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7048.14.1.20534-20536
Copyright: © Oo
et al. 2022. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We thank our colleagues
Hans-Martin Berg, Andreas Ranner and Martin Suanjak from BirdLife Austria,
who confirmed the species identification. We thank Christoph Zöckler, two unknown reviewers, and the editorial team for
the great and improving comments on previous versions of the manuscript.
The Parasitic Jaeger, also known
as Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus, breeds in the arctic tundra in northern
Eurasia and North America and is a common breeding bird in the arctic. The
species overwinters in the southern hemisphere, mainly in the southern tropical
to temperate seas and oceans around Australia, southern Africa, and southern
South America (BirdLife International 2018). They
move to the southern Hemisphere during October to November and return in
February to March (Harrisson & Smythies 1960; GBIF 2021). The main migration routes of
this marine species are predominately coastal and offshore, but it has been
observed migrating over land. The species is uncommon offshores of Thailand,
Peninsular Malaysia, and a vagrant to Singapore (Robson 2011; Poole et al.
2014; GBIF 2021), but is relatively rare inland southeastern Asia compared to
coastal and offshore. Another rare encounter of the species inland of
southeastern Asia was an adult female specimen from Borneo on 5 November 1960,
likely an individual blown off course by the typhoons (Harrisson
& Smythies 1960). Based on these records from
elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the Parasitic Jaeger was postulated to occur in
Myanmar (Holmes et al. 2014), but so far, the species was not recorded from
terrestrial Myanmar. Since Inle Lake is a birding
hotspot in Myanmar it is regularly visited by a large number of potential
observers of the species. Our team surveyed the Inle
Lake regularly from 2018 to late 2020 for all water birds.
Observations and identification:
In November 2018, we recorded a single individual of a distinct looking bird
with blackish-brown plumage at Inle Lake. On 24
October 2019, we observed the same species again, chasing Brown-headed Gulls, Larus brunnicephalus
and Black-headed Gulls, L. ridibundus for
several minutes in the afternoon in Inle Lake, Shan
State, Myanmar. The bird was distinctive in plumage form the gulls and the behaviour was strikingly. We observed the individual
chasing and in flight; it was gliding for a considerable time after the gulls
disappeared. Afterwards the jaeger stayed still while floating on the water
(Image 1). Based on its plumage characters, we identified it as a pale morph of
Parasitic Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus. The plumage of the observed individual was
mostly blackish-brown and the body shape appeared lighter built than other Stercorarius and resembled in size more to
the observed gulls. S. parasiticus
distinguishes from other similar species, Pomarine Jaeger Stercorarius
pomarinus and Long-tailed Jaeger Stercorarius longicaudus
by showing pointed central tail feathers while the Pomarine Jaeger has
spoon-shaped tail projection – the tail projection confirms species status for
our individual (Image 1, 2) and from observations in the field by us. The
breast band is less contrasting when compared with Pomarine Jaeger. The cap is
black, the throat, nape and belly are white, while the underwing has pale tips
– the tail projections and wing pattern indicate parasitic jaeger (Image 2; cf.
Olsen & Larsson 1997). The bird has a small area of white in the primary
bases on underwing and it forms white flashes during flight. The front is black
and the bill is of dark colour. We compared the photo
with plates in Olsen & Larsson (1997) visually and asked three colleagues
for independent identification (listed in acknowledgments). While we have a
photograph (Image 1, 2) of the 2019 bird, we have no photographic proof of the
earlier record from 2018.
Discussion: The record is
important for two reasons: This is the first record of the species from an
inland freshwater lake in southeastern Asia, which is approximately 380 km off
the coast. In addition, the species is recorded the first time in freshwater
habitat in Myanmar, unusual for the species. Similarly, Pfister (2004) also
reported that S. parasiticus was seen chasing
a Brown-headed Gull L. brunnicephalus over the
Tsomoriri Lake, India. While this species is marine
and coastal, it may be observed during migration inland (BirdLife
International 2018). Our Parasitic Jaeger record is the first observation of
the species in Myanmar, but also highlights the potential role of Inle Lake as a large natural inland stopover site in
Myanmar (Naing et al. 2020; BirdLife International
2021). Inle Lake was also designated as Ramsar Site in 2018 and important bird area (IBA) in 2004.
The Parasitic Jaeger is the first
and second record for Myanmar and we assume that it is a stray individual for
Myanmar. We have observed it during the migration period to the southern
hemisphere, where the Parasitic Jaeger is wintering in tropical regions. In
theory, Inle Lake could be a stopover for migration
as has been identified for many wader and gull species, e.g., Brown-headed
Gulls have a significant wintering population in Inle
Lake. However, while for waders and gulls, stopover and wintering have been
observed at Inle Lake and other Myanmar freshwater
sites, pelagic species such as the jaeger, have been more observed along the
southern shores of Myanmar (Li et al. 2020). Therefore, the observed jaeger
might be a bird on migration, but with the two records of the jaeger at Inle Lake in two different years it remains arguable
whether or not the jaeger is a stray bird or uses Inle
Lake as a stopover on migration, but it is most likely a vagrant species to
Myanmar.
Similar looking species, such as
the Pomarine Jaeger, Stercorarius pomarinus, have been recorded at Mawlamyine
(Smythies 1953) and in the Gulf of Martaban in
December 1941 (Wood 1949). Although Robson (2011) stated that Pomarine Jaeger
are found in Myanmar it has been observed as vagrant in Tanintharyi.
However, all Jaeger species are rare and uncommon records for Myanmar.
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