Habitat
Breeds in low-lying wet coastal tundra, usually marshy areas with numerous small lakes. In northern Alaska, breeding habitat includes marshes, wet polygonal tundra, well-drained but mesic tundra, and marshy swales between low ridges (Maher 1974). Suitable habitat extends along coast in a narrow strip about 8 km wide, except around Barrow, where it extends 40 km south to the Inaru River. The vegetation is less than 15 cm high and sedge marshes and shallow water comprise most of the area. In slightly higher areas on low ridges and borders of tundra polygons, there is sparse tussock-heath tundra with low sedges and grasses mixed with prostrate willows, heaths, mosses, and lichens (Wiley and Lee 2000).
References
Maher, W. K. 1974. Ecology of Pomarine, Parasitic, and Long-tailed jaeger s in northern Alaska. Pacific Coast Avifauna 37.
Wiley, R. H. and D. S. Lee. 2000. Pomarine jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus). In The Birds of North America, Vol. 13, No. 483 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
