James Audubon - The White-Tailed Tropic Bird

The White-tailed Tropicbird, is the, smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It lives in the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific, and Indian Oceans. 

 

The White-tailed Tropicbird breeds on tropical islands laying a single egg directly onto the ground or a cliff ledge. It disperses widely across the oceans when not breeding, and sometimes wanders far. It feeds on fish and squid, caught by surface plunging, but this species is a poor swimmer. 

 

The adult White-tailed Tropicbird is a slender, mainly white bird, 71–80 cm long including the very long central tail feathers, which double its total length. The wingspan is 89–96 cm, and there is a black band on the inner wing. There is black through the eye and the bill is orange-yellow to orange red. The bill colour, pure white back, and black wing bar distinguish this species from the Red-billed species. 

 

Sexes are similar, although males are longer-tailed, and juveniles lack the tail streamers, but have a green-yellow bill, and a finely barred back.