RBTB at Green Point

Red-billed Tropicbird

I made a brief visit to the Red-billed Tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) nesting cliff at Green Point St. Philip on Thursday. On arrival, it was very quiet, with just one bird seen far out to sea, but that soon changed as more and more birds flew in from the ocean.  Some birds appeared to be actively searching for nesting areas in crevices in the face of the cliff. 

A Red-billed Tropicbird entering a crevice 

Their made repeated flights to the rock face, as if entering a specific hole then pulled away at the last minute.  This inspection continued repeatedly along the cliff front, going in a northerly direction.  Two birds successfully entered holes, like the one in the image above, and a different bird flew out of another, directly out to sea. In the 45 minutes I spent on the sea ridge I counted eleven birds but I am sure there are more nesting pairs along the coast. Here are a few more images from the outing.