Red-billed Tropicbird

Alternative name: Boatswain Bird

Photo by Steve G
Little Tobago Island, Trinidad and Tobago, August 2006

Phaethon aethereus

Identification

L. 48cm
Ws. 1m

Photo by Momo
Isla Española, Galapagos, Ecuador, December 2008

• Very long central tail feathers
  • Can give bird total length of 96cm
• Black on outer primaries
• Black primary coverts on upperside
• Black eye patch tends to turn up behind the eye
• Red bill

Sexes are similar; males average longer-tailed

Juvenile

• Lack tail streamers
• Greyer-backed
• Yellow bill

Similar species

White-tailed Tropicbird and Red-tailed Tropicbird. White-tailed Tropicbird has white primary coverts on upperside and black eye line tends to turn down, not up.

Distribution

Notice black primary coverts and the eye-line that tends to meet at rear crown
Photo by bionicsherpa
South Plaza, Galapagos, Ecuador, March 2009

Found in tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the north-west Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific.

They breeding in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, off the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, Spain, on islands in the southern Atlantic, and the Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabian coasts.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Photo by kitefarrago
Gorda banks, off Baja California, April 2012

Three subspecies are recognized^[1]:

• P. a. mesonauta:

• Subtropical and tropical eastern Pacific, Caribbean and eastern Atlantic

• P. a. aethereus:

• Fernando de Noronha, Ascension Island and St Helena (south Atlantic)

• P. a. indicus:

• Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Aden (at at one time considered a full species, the Lesser Red-billed Tropicbird.)

Habitat

Tropical islands, coastal cliffs and maritime.

Behaviour

Action

Reported to be not a good swimmer.

Breeding

They breed on tropical islands, laying a single egg on cliff ledges or on the ground.

Diet

They feed on fish and squid.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. BirdLife International
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Red-billed Tropicbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Red-billed_Tropicbird

External Links

Search for photos of Red-billed Tropicbird in the gallery