Birds
Tropicbird
Phaethon spp. · also called bosun bird
High above the open ocean, a tropicbird folds its wings and drops in a sudden plunge dive, elegant tail streamers trailing behind it right up until the moment it vanishes beneath the surface after a fish it spotted from far above.
Overview
The tropicbird, genus Phaethon, is an elegant seabird found across tropical and subtropical open ocean worldwide, coming ashore only to nest on remote islands and cliffs. Its extraordinarily long tail streamers and dramatic plunge-diving hunting style make it one of the more visually striking seabirds found anywhere in the tropics.
Graceful in the air, awkward on land
Everything about a tropicbird’s design favours flight and swimming over walking, leaving a bird so elegant on the wing reduced to clumsy, vulnerable movements the moment it actually has to touch solid ground.
Status
Least Concern — widespread across suitable tropical and subtropical ocean habitat worldwide.
Tropicbird: common questions
Why does the tropicbird have such long tail feathers?
A tropicbird trails a pair of elegant, elongated central tail streamers that can exceed the length of the bird's own body, a striking feature used in courtship display and thought to play a role in signalling fitness to potential mates, giving the species its nickname, the bosun bird, for the streamers' resemblance to a ship's marlinspike.
Why is the tropicbird so clumsy on land?
A tropicbird has legs positioned far back on its body, an arrangement well suited to efficient swimming but poorly suited to walking, meaning the bird moves awkwardly and is genuinely vulnerable whenever it is forced onto land, which is why it comes ashore only when absolutely necessary to breed.
How does a tropicbird catch its food?
A tropicbird hunts through spectacular plunge dives, dropping from considerable height directly into the ocean surface with enough force to capture fish or squid swimming near the top of the water, a hunting technique shared with several other seabird groups adapted for open-ocean foraging.
Where does the tropicbird live?
A tropicbird spends the vast majority of its life over tropical and subtropical open ocean worldwide, coming ashore only to nest on remote islands and coastal cliff ledges, making it a genuinely pelagic bird rarely seen anywhere near a populated coastline.