Red-tailed Tropicbird
Phaethon rubricauda
Conservation Status
Least ConcernAves · Phaethontiformes · Phaethontidae
About
The red-tailed tropicbird is a seabird native to tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. One of three closely related species of tropicbird (Phaethontidae), it was described by Pieter Boddaert in 1783. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has almost all-white plumage with a black mask and a red bill. The sexes have similar plumage. As referenced in the common name, adults have red tail streamers that are about twice their body length. Four subspecies are recognised, but there is evidence of clinal variation in body size—with smaller birds in the north and larger in the south—and hence no grounds for subspecies.
Fun Fact
Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has almost all-white plumage with a black mask and a red bill.
Quick Facts
Habitat
Ranges across the southern Indian, and western and central Pacific Oceans, from the East African coast to Indonesia, the waters around the southern reaches of Japan, across to Chile, and the Hawaiian Islands, where they are more common on the northwestern islands.
Diet
Diet of birds there to be mostly fish by mass but equal numbers of fish and squid caught.
Lifespan
To be updated
Threats
- Habitat Change
- Human Disturbance