White-tailed Tropicbird (Record image)

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

White-tailed tropicbird Phaethon lepturus.
This is a mainly oceanic seabird sparsely recorded from the subcontinent and its territorial waters. Spotted this bird during an Arabian Sea expedition, a long distance away from the coasts of Maharashtra & Gujarat. It was probably feeding, with low surface dives. I would be very grateful if someone could quote the distribution info given in any of the field guides (don't have mine with me currently).

The bird was very far off, even for a long telephoto lens. This image is a massive crop (almost to the point of pixelation!) and has been very heavily edited to recover as many details as possible. Posted this image for record purposes only, in the hope that it serves as reliable photographic data of this species from Indian waters. The bill colour and wing markings (better seen in the other image) are enough to identify the species.
A couple of days later, a tropicbird (the same solitary individual?) passed directly overhead, unfortunately there were no cameras lying around at that instant! :(

Canon 500D, Canon 100mm Macro USM
EXIFs wouldn't mean much here...

Thanks, comments and further inputs welcome.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Another image showing the dorsal wing markings (posting it in the same thread to allow comparison)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice record.
Sharing some info from Birds of South Asia, The Ripley Guide by Pamela C. Rasmussen and John C. Anderton.

"The lightest, most gracile tropicbird with a rather small bill and rather long wedge-shaped tail (disregarding streamers); the long, narrow, angular wings have much black in primaries but little or not black in primary coverts or wing-tips. Adult has a bold diagonal black wing-band (from below often showing as a wide dark smudge), broader-based, longer white tail-streamers than race indicus of Red-bileld, and a yellow bill (can look orange, as in Red-billed); black-eye patch runs to nape. Juvenile has (typically) fine, widely spaced blackish barring above, and lacks black nape-band; bill is dusky yellow.

Variation: The golden-tinged Christmas race fulvus ranges to W Sumatra so could occur in E regional waters.
...
Occurs Breeds Maldives (Nov-Jan) and Chagos (Symens 1999); casual (numerous records) to W and S coast of Sri Lanka; vagrant, once collected Andamans (Ross I), and once well inland, in Cachar (Barak R Assam). Fairly common among trees and inshore on breeding islets; otherwise pelagic [ All tropic seas]

Habits: Often attracted briefly to ships, white flags, etc. Flight more graceful and wing-beats faster than other tropicbirds, and often seen in twos. Nests in hollows in tall trees in Maldives and Chagos."
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So Abhishek it is no wonder that once this bird flew directly over your ship.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice sighting of this sea bird. Good you could get a record photograph. Thanks for sharing the image and the details. Look forward to more from your expedition.