Family Phaethontidae

White-tailed Tropicbird

Status Rare vagrant. Ten records since 1870, five of which were collected. Several are known to have been victims of heavy gales; probably all were. Briefly, they are: 6 September 1870, Shubenacadie, Hants County (Jones 1885); 27 August 1927, Wolfville (R.W. Tufts); August 1957, Brier Island (W. Lent); 26 July 1959, Hillsborough, Inverness County (Hawley); August 1959, Brier Island (Lent); September 1959, Brier Island (Lent); 7 October 1962, Brier Island (Lent); 9 October 1962, Cape Sable (S. Smith); August 1963, Brier Island (Lent); and 13 July 1964, Hillsborough (Hawley).

Remarks The name of this beautiful, largely white bird with long tail streamers is proper, for it nests on tropical and subtropical islands and does not voluntarily wander far from these places. The nesting colony nearest the North American mainland is in Bermuda. The bird lays a single egg in a crevice or hole of a steep white coral cliff.

In size it approximates that of a crow, but it flies like a pigeon, with quick wing beats. It feeds in the manner of our terns, by diving for the small fishes it has spotted from the air with its keen vision.