Tropicbird
From Freepedia
| Tropicbirds | ||||||||||||
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| Image:Rtailedtropicbird8.jpg Red-tailed Tropicbird | ||||||||||||
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3, see text |
The three tropicbirds are closely related seabirds of tropical oceans. They are slender white birds with exceptionally long central tail feathers. Their long wings have black markings, as does the head.
They breed on tropical islands laying a single egg directly onto the ground or a cliff ledge. They feed on fish and squid, but are poor swimmers.
- The Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus occurs in the tropical Atlantic, eastern Pacific, and Indian oceans. The Indian Ocean subspecies of Red-billed tropicbird P. a. indicus was at one time considered a full species, the Lesser Red-billed Tropicbird.
- The Red-tailed Tropicbird, P. rubricauda, occurs in the Indian Ocean and the western and central tropical Pacific.
- The White-tailed Tropicbird, P. lepturus, is widespread in tropical waters, except in the eastern Pacific.
The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy gives a radically different scientific arrangement for this group based on DNA studies.
