In 2014 and 2015 two Red-billed Tropicbirds were present on Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, but there was no proof of breeding. In 2016 Tony Mulet located two birds, in the same place that they had been observed in both 2014 and 2015, and recorded that they were regularly attending the cliffs there.
Later, local ornithologist
Marcelo Cabrera noted the same birds. In May, on a visit to this site to try to
confirm breeding of the species, it was confirmed that breeding was occurring
and that at least 20 individuals including eight pairs were present. Elsewhere
in the Canary Islands Red-billed Tropicbirds breed in single pairs.
Later in the year Daniel López
Velasco corroborated this information, and suspects the presence of another
population in another location on Fuerteventura, but he has not yet been able
to confirm this.
Without a doubt, the species is
set to grow by the Canary Islands, but the location of the colony will be
withheld due to sensitivities.
As the name suggests, the
Red-billed Tropicbird is a species of tropical waters, ranging from the eastern
Pacific through to the Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea, Arabian Gulf and
the north-west Indian Ocean. Historically within the Western Palearctic,
breeding has been known only from Cape Verde, with this and the Galapagos
populations being the species' key global populations.
The first confirmed breeding
record for Europe came from the Azores in 1993, whilst, with ever increasing
numbers being seen in the Canary Islands (most likely involving post-breeding
birds from the Cape Verde population), it was only a matter of time before
breeding was confirmed on the archipelago.
Continued
