White-tailed Tropicbird

The white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) is a beautiful long-tailed white seabird and is the smallest and most graceful of three closely related tropicbird species. It is a common and widespread resident of coastal waters throughout the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Oceans. In the Seychelles, they are a common breeding species that can often be seen soaring high over the mainland. It breeds in large numbers on rat-free offshore islands, such as Cousine, and in tall trees and inland cliffs on the main islands where rats and other invasive mammals are present.

Breeding occurs year-round with pairs showing high fidelity to both each other and the chosen breeding site. Although slightly smaller than the red-tailed tropicbird, this bird reaches an average length of 75cm, with the most distinguishing feature of this species, the long, thin tail streamer, contributing 36cm of the total length. Interestingly, the adults feed mostly at night by surface plunging, returning in the morning to feed the chicks. There are roughly 1000 pairs that breed on Cousine each year.