White-tailed Tropicbird

Basic Description

The White-tailed Tropicbird is a flashy seabird of tropical and subtropical seas worldwide. Adults are gleaming white, with a bold black mask, colorful bill, and spectacularly long tail streamers. Juveniles lack the long tail feathers and bright bill and have dark bars on the upperparts. White-tailed Tropicbirds spend most of their lives far from land over the open sea, only coming ashore to breed in rocky crevices on remote oceanic islands. They are largely solitary away from nesting sites, but sometimes form small groups to feed on concentrations of flying fish and squid.