Phaethon lepturus
Silhouette: Marie-Aimée ALLARD · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) or yellow-billed tropicbird is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Oceans. It also breeds on some Caribbean islands, and a few pairs have started nesting recently on Little Tobago, joining the red-billed tropicbird colony. In addition to the tropical Atlantic, it nests as far north as Bermuda, where it is locally called a "longtail".
French zoologist François Marie Daudin described the white-tailed tropicbird in 1802. "White-tailed tropicbird" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). Its closest relative is the red-tailed tropicbird (P. rubricauda), the split between their ancestors taking place about four million years ago.
Six subspecies are recognised by the IOC: This form has a golden wash to the white plumage. P...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Hawaii Volcanoes National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Jaragua National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 4 | Haleakala National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic |
No species of the same family or order lives in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Tropicbird sighting in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on a given day, based on 410 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 29 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Tropicbird in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on a given day, against about 20% in March, the lowest month. That is one of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain against 90 mm in July.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-tailed Tropicbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate White-tailed Tropicbird sightings, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (United States, about 80%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-tailed Tropicbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (410 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
