Longtail Tropicbird

The white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Oceans. It also breeds on some Caribbean islands, and a few pairs have started nesting recently on Little Tobago, joining the red-billed tropicbird colony. In addition to the tropical Atlantic, it nests as far north as Bermuda
The White-tailed Tropicbird is almost always known in Bermuda has the ‘Longtail’ because of its distinctive tail feathers. This species is well known and much loved locally. Longtails are relatively large birds; adults can measure up to 30 inches (76cm) including the tail feathers, with wingspans up to 3ft (1m). The feathers are pure white, with diagonal black bars across each wing. These bars form a V shape when the flying bird is viewed from above. The wing tips are also black and there is a black band through the eye. The distinctive tail is composed of two extremely long feathers, surrounded by other short ones. Occasionally Longtails are seen that have lost both of the long feathers. The Longtail’s sharp, pointed bill is yellow in young birds, and turns to orange. The webbed feet are dark. Juvenile Longtails are white with various thick black bars on their backs, and they do not yet have the long tail feathers.

The Longtail is an open ocean species that only comes in to land to breed. It is a cavity-nester, which lays its single egg in holes and crevices eroded from the soft limestone of Bermuda’s coastal cliffs. When not in Bermuda, Longtails are at sea feeding on squid and open ocean fish, like Ocean Robins.

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