Red-tailed Tropicbird

Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) is a graceful white tropical seabird with a red bill and exceptionally long, narrow red tail streamers in adults. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It searches warm open seas for fish and squid, captures prey by plunge-diving and nests on the ground or in sheltered crevices on oceanic islands. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).