Photo by Andy Collins

Red-tailed Tropic Birds have mostly white body plumage, dark eye patches, deep red bills, and thin red tail streamers. Juveniles initially have a black bill that changes to yellow and then red as they reach maturity. They are solitary feeders and rarely fish within sight of land. Red-tailed Tropic Birds are known to perform complex aerial courtship displays that consist of flying in circles, vertically, and even backwards. Adults generally return to the same sun-sheltered nest site each year.

Red-tailed Tropic Bird
(Phaethon rubricauda rothschildi)

	Tropical islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans
	Open ocean, rarely seen near shore
	Mostly fish (flying fish, mackerel, dolphinfish, balloonfish) and squid
The status of this species is representative of the populations within the waters of this Sanctuary only, not global populations.
	The female Red-tailed Tropic Bird usually lays a single egg that ranges in color from brown to purplish-black that she can distinguish and identify from other eggs.
	- Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge - Patuxent Wildlife Research Center - National Wildlife Federation