Day 80: White-tailed Tropicbird

At the beginning of our trip, on the way from San Juan to Rincon in the west, we stopped at some cliffs along the northwest coast of Puerto Rico to look for White-tailed Tropicbirds. The cliffs offered a beautiful view of the ocean and tons of White-tailed Tropicbirds soaring back and forth (I also later saw a Humpback Whale in the distance). These beautiful white seabirds have a long tail that was evident even from afar. They were so graceful to watch that we stopped again on our way back to the airport at the end of our trip.

 

White-tailed Tropicbirds breed on Puerto Rico and other tropical islands by laying a single egg on a cliff ledge. We weren't able to see any nests, but did see many birds flying back and forth between the cliffs and the ocean.