• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Least Concern
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2013	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	675 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	95,100,000 km2
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	155,000,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	70000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2019
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	11.7 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number 70,000 mature individuals (Partners in Flight 2019).

Trend justification: The population is undergoing a small decline (Partners in Flight 2019).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
American Samoa	extant	uncertain
Australia	extant	native
Bangladesh	extant	native
Brazil	extant	vagrant			yes
British Indian Ocean Territory	extant	native
Canada	extant	native
Chile	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native
Christmas Island (to Australia)	extant	native		yes
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (to Australia)	extant	native		yes
Comoros	extant	native
Cook Islands	extant	uncertain
Fiji	extant	vagrant			yes
French Polynesia	extant	native		yes
French Southern Territories	extant	uncertain
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
High Seas	extant	native			yes
India	extant	native
Indonesia	extant	native
Japan	extant	native
Kenya	extant	vagrant
Kiribati	extant	uncertain
Madagascar	extant	native
Malaysia	extant	uncertain
Maldives	extant	uncertain
Marshall Islands	extant	native		yes
Mauritius	extant	native		yes
Mayotte (to France)	extant	native
Mexico	extant	native
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native
Nauru	extant	uncertain
New Caledonia (to France)	extant	native		yes
New Zealand	extant	native		yes
Niue (to New Zealand)	extant	uncertain
Norfolk Island (to Australia)	extant	native
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native		yes
Palau	extant	native		yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	uncertain
Peru	extant	vagrant
Philippines	extant	native
Pitcairn Islands (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Réunion (to France)	extant	native		yes
Samoa	extant	uncertain
Seychelles	extant	native		yes
Solomon Islands	extant	native
Somalia	extant	uncertain
South Africa	extant	native
Taiwan, China	extant	native
Tanzania	extant	uncertain
Thailand	extant	vagrant
Timor-Leste	extant	uncertain
Tokelau (to New Zealand)	extant	uncertain
Tonga	extant	native
Tuvalu	extant	uncertain
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	native		yes
USA	extant	native			yes
Vanuatu	extant	uncertain
Wallis and Futuna Islands (to France)	extant	native		yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Coringa-Herald Reefs
Australia	Lord Howe Island Permanent Park Preserve (Lord Howe Island IBA)
Christmas Island (to Australia)	Christmas Island
Cook Islands	Suwarrow Atoll Marine
Cook Islands	Suwarrow Atoll National Park
Cook Islands	Takutea Marine
Cook Islands	Takutea Wildlife Sanctuary
French Polynesia	Maria
French Polynesia	Maria Marine
French Polynesia	Morane
French Polynesia	Morane Marine
French Polynesia	Rapa
French Polynesia	Rapa Marine
French Southern Territories	Europa
High Seas	Indian Ocean, Western 50 - Marine
Indonesia	Pulau Gunung Api
Indonesia	Pulau Manuk
Japan	Kazan-retto islands
Kiribati	Enderbury Island
Kiribati	Kiritimati (Christmas Island)
Kiribati	Kiritimati (Christmas Island) Marine
Kiribati	McKean Island
Kiribati	McKean Island Marine
Kiribati	Nikumaroro (Gardner Island)
Kiribati	Phoenix Islands Marine
Mauritius	Round Island
New Caledonia (to France)	Île Hunter
New Caledonia (to France)	Île Hunter Marin
New Zealand	Kermadec (offshore)
New Zealand	Meyer & Herald Islands
Norfolk Island (to Australia)	Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (to Australia)	Norfolk Island / Phillip Island - Marine
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	Maug Islands
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	Uracus Marine
Pitcairn Islands (to UK)	Ducie Island
Pitcairn Islands (to UK)	Oeno Island
Seychelles	Aldabra Special Reserve
Seychelles	Cosmoledo
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Howland and Baker Marine
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Howland Island
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Jarvis Island
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Jarvis Island Marine
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Johnston Atoll
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Johnston Atoll Marine
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Palmyra Atoll
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	Palmyra Atoll Marine
USA	Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
USA	Lehua Islet
USA	Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	major	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	breeding
Altitude	0 - 250 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Unspecified species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Red-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon rubricauda. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/red-tailed-tropicbird-phaethon-rubricauda on 04/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 04/12/2024.