Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several predominantly white, swift-flying seabirds of the genus Phaethon of warm regions, having a pair of very long central tail feathers.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of the various
seabirds of the familyPhaethontidae , typically found in the open ocean in thetropics
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun mostly white web-footed tropical seabird often found far from land
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The major islands have such special species as the white-tailed tropicbird, the rare Manx (Newell's) shearwater, and the dark-rumped petrel, all of which seek crater walls for nesting.
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For seabirds some of the largest colonies of tropical Atlantic seabirds are found on the Fernando de Noronha islands, with large numbers species including the black noddy or Anous minutis, the brown noddy Anous stolidus, the sooty tern Sterna fuscata, the fairy tern Gygis alba, the masked booby Sula dactylatra, the brown booby Sula leucogaster, the red footed booby Sula sula; the magnificent frigatebird Fragata magnificans and the red-billed tropicbird Phaethon aethereus.
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White-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) occurs as a distinctive morph on Europa Island.
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Geographical variation in the white-tailed tropicbird Phaethon lepturus, with the description of a new subspecies endemic to Europa Island, southern Mozambique Channel.
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Other notable species are the brown booby (16), blue-footed booby (2,000), white-tailed tropicbird Phaethon aethereus (100) and brown noddy Anous stolidus (650 – the largest colony in Mexico).
Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California, Mexico 2008
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These differences lead scientists to believe that the Europa population of white-tailed tropicbird is isolated from other nearby colonies in the Indian Ocean; it has been proposed as a distinct subspecies, Phaethon lepturus europae, by Le Corre and Jouventin.
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Other important breeding seabird populations are the magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) and red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda).
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The bird fauna of Niue Island, southwest Pacific, with special notes on the white-tailed tropicbird and golden plover.
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"It looked similar to a tern species and then I saw the long tail," she said of the tropicbird.
NYT > Home Page By LISA W. FODERARO 2011
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Ms. Miller planned to turn the tropicbird over to Mr. Sweet, who was eager to collect as many accidental visitors as possible.
NYT > Home Page By LISA W. FODERARO 2011
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