Phaethon rubricauda (Red-tailed
tropicbird)
Rooipylstert [Afrikaans]; Roodstaartkeerkringvogel
[Dutch]; Phaéton à brins rouges [French]; Rotschwanz-tropikvogel [German];
Rabijunco-de-cauda-vermelha [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Ciconiiformes
> Family: Phaethontidae
Distribution and habitat
Occupies much of the Indian and Pacific Oceans; it is the most common tropicbird in
southern Africa, especially abundant in the Mozambique Channel but also occurring down
the coast of South Africa to Cape Town.
Movements and migrations
It disperses widely from its west Indian Ocean
breeding grounds, visiting southern Africa in the period from
November-April.
Food
It eats fish and squid, doing most of its foraging singly
in the day, repeatedly diving into the water from 5-50 metres above sea level.
It stays submerged for roughly 26 seconds, although it may make a shallow dive
for just two seconds. Diving is not its only hunting technique, it may also
aerially hawk flying squid and flying fish. The following food items have been recorded
in its diet:
- Fish
- flyingfish (Exocoetidae)
- Coryphaena (dolphin-fishes)
- Squid
- Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis (flying squid)
Breeding
It breeds in the islands of the west Indian Ocean, such as
Europa Island, the Seychelles and islands off Mauritius, nesting in rocky
crevices or hollows scraped out beneath vegetation.
Threats
Not threatened, although some populations are impacted by
predation by introduced mammals and birds, and it is also harvested for food by
some human communities.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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