Red-billed Tropicbird

Phaethon aethereus

Chirre de Pico Colorado,
Rabijunco Piquirojo

IDENTIFICATION: A small, white seabird, similar to the White-tailed Tropicbird but slightly "chunkier", with a bright red bill, black wing tips and fine black barring on its back and the upperside of each wing. A black line extends through the eye. The two white, central tail feathers are narrow and very long. Immature birds lack the long tail. Length: 90-105 cm., most of which is the long tail streamer; weight: 700 g.

VOICE: The voice is a prolonged raspy note often given by pairs of birds.

HABITAT: Nests in the same habitat as the White-tailed Tropicbird---rocky coastal cliffs---but seen most often feeding at sea.

HABITS: Similar to the White-tailed Tropicbird. The female lays a single egg in a rock burrow. Incubation lasts about seven weeks, and the young fledge three to four months after hatching. When not breeding, tropicbirds of both species are sometimes found near the Gulf Stream as far north as North Carolina.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: This bird is an uncommon, local species in marine waters around its nesting cliffs. The total Caribbean population may number only 1,800-2,500 breeding pairs, a major decline in the last few centuries. Because of this severe reduction in numbers, the current population may not be sufficient to sustain the species over the next few centuries. Rats and cats are a threat at some nesting colonies, and egg collecting by humans was formerly a threat.

RANGE: The Red-billed Tropicbird is found in tropical seas in the New World, West Africa and the Indian Ocean. It nests on steep rocky islets off Culebra and Vieques.

TAXONOMY: PELECANIFORMES; PHAETHONTIDAE

References

Dammann, A.E. and D.W. Nellis. 1992. A natural history atlas to the cays of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Pineapple Press, Sarasota, FL.

del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1992. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 1, Ostrich to ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Lee, D.S. and M. Walsh-McGehee. 2000. Population estimates, conservation concerns, and management of tropicbirds in the Western Atlantic. Carib. J. Sci. 36(3-4):267-279.

Mackin, W. A. 2000. A geographic information system for seabird breeding sites in the West Indies. Pp. 174-181 in Status and conservation of West Indian seabirds (E. A. Schreiber and D. S. Lee, eds.). Soc. Carib. Ornith., Special Pub. No. 1.

Norton, R.L. 1988. The density and relative abundance of Pelecaniformes on the Eastern Puerto Rico Bank in December 1982. Carib. J. Sci. 24:28-31.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Schreiber, E. A. and D. S. Lee. 2000. West Indian seabirds: a disappearing natural resource. Pp. 1-10 in Status and conservation of West Indian seabirds (E. A. Schreiber and D. S. Lee, eds.). Soc. Carib. Ornith., Special Pub. No. 1.

Schreiber, E. A. 2000. Action plan for conservation of West Indian seabirds. Pp. 182-191 in Status and conservation of West Indian seabirds (E. A. Schreiber and D. S. Lee, eds.). Soc. Carib. Ornith., Special Pub. No. 1.

Sorrie, B.A. 1975. Observations on the birds of Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 15:89-103.

Walsh-McGehee, M. 2000. Status and conservation priorities for White-tailed and Red-tailed Tropicbirds in the West Indies. Pp. 31-38 in Status and conservation of West Indian seabirds (E. A. Schreiber and D. S. Lee, eds.). Soc. Carib. Ornith., Special Pub. No. 1.

Wiley, J. W. 2000. A bibliography of seabirds in the West Indies. Pp. 192-225 in Status and conservation of West Indian seabirds (E. A. Schreiber and D. S. Lee, eds.). Soc. Carib. Ornith., Special Pub. No. 1.

Red-billed Tropicbird, Spanish text

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