📸 PhotoPhoto: Re-tail.jpg : Sabine's Sunbird derivative work: Haplochromis ( talk ) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Red-tailed Tropicbird
Phaethon rubricauda (Red-tailed Tropicbird · アカオネッタイチョウ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 In New Zealand, it raises its young only at breeding colonies on the Kermadec Islands (New Zealand Birds Online).
- 💡 Its length including the tail, about 86 cm, is similar to a baseball bat (about 84 cm) (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Red-tailed Tropicbird is a seabird that flies over the open tropical and subtropical Indian and Pacific oceans, characterized by its elongated central tail streamers. In New Zealand, it breeds only on the Kermadec Islands.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body length is about 46 cm, and the long central tail streamers extend about 40 cm beyond the body. In flight, it alternates between slow wingbeats and gliding.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds mainly on flying fish, herring-like fish, and cephalopods such as squid, as well as small amounts of crustaceans, catching them by plunge-diving into the water. It lays a single egg in a shallow scrape on the ground or on a cliff ledge, and both parents incubate it for 40–46 days.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2020) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22696641/163889221
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 163889221
- • wikidata.org — Q756640
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Red-tail.jpg
- • nzbirdsonline.org.nz — red-tailed-tropicbird
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Paul Baker (photo), John E. McCormack, Michael G. Harvey, Brant C. Faircloth, Nicholas G. Crawford, Travis C. Glenn, Robb T. Brumfield & T. Michael Keesey · CC BY 3.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.