Phaethon lepturus
Silhouette: Marie-Aimée ALLARD · PhyloPic
In 3 days >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 |
Very likely
About 80% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Tropicbird sighting in Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 1,067 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 44 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and August–October
In those months about 90% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Tropicbird in Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against about 70% in January and March–April, the lowest months.
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.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate White-tailed Tropicbird sightings, Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (United States, about 30%) and Jaragua National Park (Dominican Republic, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-tailed Tropicbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (1,067 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.
