White-tailed Tropicbird
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| Phaethon lepturus Daudin, 1802 |
The White-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon lepturus, is a tropicbird, smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans. It occurs in the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Oceans. It also breeds on some Caribbean islands, and a few pairs have started nesting recently on Little Tobago, joining the Red-billed Tropicbird colony. In addition to the tropical Atlantic, it nests as far north as Bermuda.
The White-tailed Tropicbird breeds on tropical islands laying a single egg directly onto the ground or a cliff ledge. It disperses widely across the oceans when not breeding, and sometimes wanders far. It feeds on fish and squid, caught by surface plunging, but this species is a poor swimmer. The call is a high screamed kee-kee-krrrt-krrt-krrt.
The adult White-tailed Tropicbird is a slender, mainly white bird, 71-80 cm long including the very long central tail feathers, which double its total length. The wingspan is 89-96 cm, and there is a black band on the inner wing There is black through the eye and the bill is orange-yellow to orange red. The bill colour, pure white back and black wing bar distinguish this species from Red-billed.
Sexes are similar, although males average longer tailed, but juveniles lack the tail streamers, have a green-yellow bill, and a finely barred back.
There are five subspecies
- P. l. lepturus – Indian Ocean.
- P. l. fulvus (Golden Bosun) – Christmas Island. This form has a golden wash to the white plumage.
- P. l. dorotheae – tropical Pacific.
- P. l. catesbyi – Bermuda and Caribbean.
- P. l. ascensionis – Ascension Island
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Phaethon lepturus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Harrison, Peter (1996). Seabirds of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01551-1.
- ffrench, Richard (2003). Birds of Trinidad and Tobago. ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
[edit] External links
- White-tailed Tropicbird videos on the Internet Bird Collection
