Golden colouration in White-tailed tropicbirds is definately not confined to
Christmas Island. It is more frequent there and is expressed more strongly in
the most coloured individuals. See Le Corre & Jouventin (1999: Ibis 141, 233-9
'Geographical variation in the White-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon lepturus, with
the description of a new subspecies endemic to Europa Island, southern
Mozambique Channel').
They found traces of golden plumage in 5 subspecies, including P. l. catesbyi
and P.l ascensionis in the Atlantic.
David James,
Sydney
==============================
________________________________
From: Dimitris Bertzeletos <>
To:
Sent: Monday, 17 October 2011 4:02 PM
Subject: Golden Morph White-tailed Tropicbird recorded from the Azores:
See here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=213791
and a direct link to some surbird pictures of the bird:
http://www.surfbirds.com/media/gallery_photos/20111015033016.jpg
http://www.surfbirds.com/media/gallery_photos/20111015030957.jpg
So either a very lost bird or the golden form is not endemic to Christmas
Island...
Cheers,
D.
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