White-Tailed Tropicbird

The White-Tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and the smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. The tropical Atlantic, western Pacific, and Indian Oceans are where you can find them. Along with some other Caribbean islands, it breeds there as well. Recently, a few pairs have begun building nests on Little Tobago to join the red-billed tropicbird colony. The term "longtail" is used locally in Bermuda, where it nests outside of the tropical Atlantic.

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. 89-96 cm is the wingspan. The bird has an orange-yellow to the orange-red bill, a black band on the inner wing, and a black eye mask. Sexes are similar, although males on average are longer tailed, but juveniles lack the tail streamers, have a green-yellow bill, and a finely barred back. The white-tailed tropicbird does not have an annual breeding cycle; rather, the frequency of breeding is influenced by the weather and the accessibility of good breeding grounds. The bird can breed either 10 months or 5 months after the most recent successful breeding.