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White-tailed Tropicbird
(Phaethon lepturus)
: "Golden Bosun-bird", "White-tailed Bosun-bird", "Yellow-billed Tropicbird"
Size: 38-40 cm; tail 35-40 cm; wing span 90-95 cm
Weight: 220-300 g
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Similar
species |
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Physical description |
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 Click here for a physical description
Red-tailed Tropicbirds are medium-sized seabirds with long streamers.
Their plumage is
almost all white, including the streamers. They have black eye
stripes, a black "V" on the upperwings, from the scapulars to the
alulas, and partly black primaries. The upper base of the long
streamers is also partly black. Only golden-morphology birds (not
shown here) have a golden sheen on their underparts.
The bill is yellow (orange in golden-morphology specimens), the
eyes, legs and feet are black.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See White-tailed
Tropicbird at Wikipedia  .
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
.
The global distribution of White-tailed Tropicbird is available
HERE
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There are various races of White-tailed Tropicbirds that, taken
all together, populate most of the tropical oceans.
In Australian territorial waters and
off-shore islands
in the Indian Ocean only nominate race lepturus is found.
Race "dorotheae"
is found in the tropical Pacific Ocean, but they
can disperse along the Australian East coast from Cape York
peninsula, QLD, in the North, all the way down the coast,
occasionally to Melbourne, VIC, and Flinders Island, TAS, in the
Bass Strait. They are found along the Great Barrier Reef, in NSW
coastal waters
and even, on rare occasions, in parts of inland NSW (inside the
Great Dividing Range and parts of the Murray-Darling Basin).
White-tailed Tropicbirds breed on tropical islands and otherwise mostly stay out
on the open oceans,
where they disperse. Occasionally they are found in coastal waters and only very
rarely above the Australian continent.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
We have not seen White-tailed Tropicbirds in Australia yet.
D. Wilczynska reports spotting White-tailed Tropicbirds on
the Maldives in October 2015. All sighting and photographic
information presented on this page has kindly been contributed
by D. Wilczynska.
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Photos |
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Race "lepturus"
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ADULT |
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Lateral view of a White-tailed Tropicbird in flight
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
White-tailed Tropicbird in flight, seen from straight underneath
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
Near-dorsal view of a White-tailed Tropicbird in flight
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
White-tailed Tropicbirds can often be seen flying high in
loose groups (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors.
The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
