"Bracelets" for Red-tailed Tropicbirds

adult Red-tailed Tropicbird

The left-hand picture shows a Red-tailed Tropicbird chick that's grown up and ready to fly away from Midway Atoll to start its own life.  It's at what we call the "fully feathered chick, or FFC" stage.  But before it flies away, the US Fish and Wildlife Service would like to put a "bracelet" on it.

RTTR bands, ready for use

The bracelet is a small metal ring called a "band" with a number.  Each band has a different number; so each bird that gets a band has its own number.  This identifies the bird.  When the FFC grows up, and returns to Midway, we'll know who it is.  If it mates, lays an egg, and raises its own chick, we'll have a record of the family...sort of a "family tree."

Do you see what looks like a large safety pin in the picture, to the right of the metal bands?  That's actually a clip that came off a fishing float, which was found as marine debris on one of Midway's beaches.  We pretended the clip was an RTTR's leg, and learned how to band Tropicbirds.  In this series of pictures, you can see how it's done:

1) A bird band is in the front position in the special, banding pliers.

2) The pliers are squeezed to close the band around the "bird leg."

3) The bird band is rotated.

4) The band is moved to the pliers' back position; the pliers are squeezed...

5) ... closing the band and making it round.

6) The band is on the "bird leg!"

Red-tailed Tropicbirds Grow Up

adult RTTR

Red-tailed Tropicbirds (RTTR) look very angry, with the black feathers around their eyes, and they make terrible squawking sounds.  But they are really beautiful birds.

• Look at that red bill!
• Look at that long, thin, reddish tail feather!  
• Look at those glossy, white feathers!

These magnificent ocean birds mate, nest and raise their chicks during the summer on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.  Here are some "kid pictures" of RTTR--

(2) probably still in the DFC stage

(1) adult with DFC (downy feathered chick)

(4) made it to the FFC stage!

(3) maybe getting to the PFC (partially feathered chick) stage

The chick on the right is called a fully feathered chick, an FFC.  It's not an adult yet, since it doesn't have a red bill,  but it is ready to be banded!

Red-tailed Tropicbirds are NOT Songbirds

FOAM has had a lot of posts about albatross.  As of today, July 20, there have been a total of 29 albatross posts.  That's okay.  After all, FOAM means Friends of Albatross on Midway.

But there are other birds here as well.  I have sort of a "love-hate" relationship with the Red-tailed Tropicbirds.  I love how beautiful they are.  Look at these pictures of adult RTTR.  What a glossy white bird, with striking black feathers around the eye!  And isn't that a beautiful red bill?  If you look closely at the top picture and the one to the right left-hand picture, which shows an adult resting in the native `Akulikuli (Sea Purslane, Sesuvium portulacastrum), you can see the red tail-feather that's present only during mating season.  After mating season the feather falls off.

But I hate the Tropicbird's call.  If you get too close to one of these birds it screams at you with a really loud, raspy squawk.  The video below was taken from the porch of Midway Atoll's Clipper House, a lovely place where our meals are served.  If you look closely, you'll see the famous circular mating flight of some RTTR in the distance.  They fly in a vertical circle: flying up toward the sky, then backwards, then down toward the ocean, forward, and then repeat.  (I know, I know; you wish I would zoom in on those white specks that are birds!  I have a really, really simple camera, and if I use the zoom, the video gets fuzzy.)  The good thing about the video is its audio, which gives you an ear-full from the Red-tailed Tropicbirds sailing overhead.  They definitely are not songbirds!


Strange Flight of the Tropicbirds from Barb Mayer on Vimeo.

Midway's Red, White and Blue

RED from the beak of a Tropicbird (Koa`e `Ula, Phaethon rubricauda), WHITE from albatross foot prints on sand, and different shades of BLUE from the ocean and sky.  










Happy Independence Day, America; take care of your natural heritage!