Red-tailed Tropicbird

How to find it

The usual way to look for rare ocean birds in Costa Rica is the crossing to Isla del Coco. On a trip we build, the boat leaves from Puntarenas as a liveaboard, and the crossing takes 36 to 40 hours. Birders watch for seabirds from the upper deck, and one operator has its expedition leader run birdwatching sessions there from 6:00 a.m. on the pelagic days. Check every tern-like bird at sea, because a young Red-billed Tropicbird can look much like a Royal Tern. Birders also scan for pelagic species from the lighthouse overlooks at the end of Puntarenas, though nothing shows this tropicbird has been seen there.

How to recognise it

Adults are mostly white, often with a pink tinge. Look for these marks:

A bright red bill.

A dark comma-shaped mark through the eye.

Two long red tail streamers.

Juveniles look different. They have no long streamers, and the bill is dark, with the back and wings heavily barred with dark marks. Another description gives a young Red-tailed a bill that is partly red, while a young Red-billed has a yellow bill, which helps tell the two apart.

The Red-tailed is structurally similar to the Red-billed Tropicbird, so the red tail streamers and the reduced eye stripe are what separate the two.

What it sounds like

Recording: damienxw, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It eats mainly flying fish and squid, caught by plunge-diving into the ocean. It is a highly pelagic seabird, so it lives far from land.

Birds can be blown far off course. Strong winds sometimes push this species inland, which explains some sightings away from the coast and its usual habitat, and it is one reason a vagrant can turn up where nobody expects it.

Where it lives

Across its range this is a highly pelagic seabird of tropical oceans. It breeds in colonies on remote oceanic islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

In Costa Rica it is not a resident anywhere. It is one of the rare vagrants that have reached Isla del Coco in the Pacific. Costa Rican seabird studies have focused on the coasts and on records from Isla del Coco National Park, and seabird distribution in the country is little studied.

Similar birds

The Red-billed Tropicbird is the one to compare. It is structurally similar and is the tropicbird with the most Costa Rican records, on the ocean route to Isla del Coco. The Red-tailed has red tail streamers and a reduced eye stripe. The White-tailed is the third Costa Rican tropicbird and is also accidental.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican list uses Rabijunco Cola Roja. Other Spanish names include rabijunco colirrojo and faetón colirrojo. On Easter Island, far from Costa Rica, it is called tavake. The list of Cocos Island birds has its own official version, first written in 1990 as part of the park management plan and now updated by the national rare-species committee.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list marks it A, accidental, and a checklist that includes Cocos Island also rates it as rare or accidental.

Photography tips

Scan from the upper deck on the pelagic days and check every tern-like bird, since careful scanning is how tropicbirds get picked out. Look for the red bill, the dark eye mark and the long red streamers on adults.