Adults: General plumage white with black stripes through eye, through innermost flight feathers and on flanks. Rosey sheen of varying intensity on body plumage. Two long, red central tail feathers having black shafts. Eye, dark brown. Bill, red with black line along nostrils. Feet, pale blue. Webbing and toes, black.
Immatures: General plumage white with black stripes through eye, through innermost flight feathers and on flanks. Black bars on upper parts. Rosey sheen of varying intensity on body plumage. No streamers. Eye, dark brown. Bill, red with black line along nostrils. Feet, pale blue. Webbing and toes, black.
Downy Young: Silky grey-fawn after hatching. Bill, black. Feet, black.
Other Names (World)
Red-tailed Tropicbird, Red-tailed Bos'n-bird, Silver Bosun-bird, Strawtail
Tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. Breeding at Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, Rhaine Island in the east and at the Abrollos Group and Rottnest Island in the west. Vagrant to coastal waters north of Perth, WA and Sydney, NSW
Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) [XC110979]
by david m from Avatiu Valley, Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, New Zealand (call)
Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) [XC118202]
by david m from Sand Island Midway Atoll, United States (call, flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
September – March on Lord Howe Island, and throughout the year elsewhere.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Nest
A depression in the ground, sheltered by a bush or rock. Sometimes on a ledge or in a crevice of a rocky cliff.
Eggs (Guide)
1; dull white or pinkish-red, almost obscured by minute marks of pinkish-red to blackish-brown; long-oval; 64 x 45 – 68 x 47 mm. Incubation: 42 – 50 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 4 – 5 weeks.
Subspecies
Four subspecies based on measurements of wing and bill and intensity of pink-suffusion on plumage. Birds of central Pacific sometimes placed in separate subspecies rothschildi.
Two in Australia: one smaller and whiter off west coast; the other rose-tinted and larger off east coast. Some authors do not recognise these as subspecies.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
More... see more information (images, calls, videos etc)
(22Kb) © ? (
BirdLife International Species Factsheet