tags: Red-tailed Tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-tailed Tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda rothschildi, photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Midway Island, Hawai'i [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joe Fuhrman, March 2010. I encourage you to purchase images from this professional photographer.
NOTE: Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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My first thought was tern, but now I think not.
I think I saw a member of the same family in the Galapagos.
The family field marks include distinctive tail and a red beak, slightly turned down. The field mark for this bird includes that cool eye patch thing (looks different from the one I saw in the Galapagos) and an extra special tail distinction.
What a magnificent portrait! The small black eyepatch should differentiate this guy from the species Bardiac saw in the Galapagos, and I once saw offshore from Nayarit.