WHITE TAILED TROPICBIRD, BERMUDA, LIVE WEBCAM

More info: The White-tailed tropicbird (known in Bermuda as the “Longtail”) is Bermuda’s only remaining, locally common seabird, with over 600 breeding pairs nesting on the Castle Islands Nature Reserve, including about 200 pairs nesting on Nonsuch Island.

The white-tailed tropicbird occurs off the coast of the south eastern United States and throughout the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico and tropical eastern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It originates from breeding colonies in Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles.

The white-tailed tropicbird is the smallest of the tropicbirds, a group of elegant seabirds renowned for their greatly elongated tail streamers that extend from the wedge-shaped tail.

Tropicbirds are able to remain at sea for indefinite periods and are also capable of sustaining long periods of flight. While resting at sea, tropicbirds float on the sea surface, due to their fully waterproof plumage. They will take to the air once more after powerful beats of their wings and thrusts of their fully-webbed feet.

White-tailed tropicbirds generally breed in their third or fourth year. The nest is created by the male often in a rocky crevice or if it is on an island with no predators then on the ground. A single egg is laid and incubated by both the male and female at intervals of 13 days for some 40 to 43 days. Young birds are grey and fluffy, and do not grow long tail feathers for a year or more.

Additional Information :
White-tailed Tropicbird - Audubon - audubon.org
Birds of Hawaii - birdsofhawaii.info