Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00287:reg:3:p162
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00287
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 162/276)
Character Range: 609890–612787

Journal of Zoology 179(3), 317–360.
Fullagar PJ (1978) Norfolk Island birds. Unpublished report to RAOU Congress, Norfolk Island.
O'Neill L (2006) The breeding and feeding ecology of the Sooty Tern Sterna fuscata on Lord Howe Island. PhD Thesis, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW.
Priddel D, Carlile N, Evans O, Evans B & McCoy H (2010) A review of the seabirds of Phillip Island in the Norfolk Island Group. Notornis 57, 113–127.
Schodde R, Fullagar P & Hermes N (1983) A review of Norfolk Island birds past and present (Special Publication No. 8). Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, Canberra.

Phaethon rubricauda—red-tailed tropicbird

Conservation significance
EPBC Act Listing Status: Marine, Migratory.
State Listing Status: Listed as Vulnerable under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (New South Wales).
Non-statutory Listing Status: Described as near threatened in the Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010 (Garnett et al. 2011).

Distribution
Widespread throughout the subtropical and tropical zones of the Indian and West Pacific Oceans. In Australia it breeds on Ashmore Reef, Rowley Shoals, Cocos-Keeling Islands, Christmas Island, islands of the Great Barrier Reef and islands of the Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island Group.
A widespread coastal summer breeding species, this species is well established on the Norfolk Island Group and occurs on all three islands. Numbers were apparently stable, particularly on Phillip Island where there are no predators (Schodde et al. 1983). Phillip Island supports one of the largest breeding populations in Australia. 100–1000 pairs were estimated during 2006 (Priddel et al. 2010) and <1000 pairs in 2017–18 (Carlile & O'Dwyer 2018).

Ecology
Nest selection occurs in November with eggs laid through December, and eggs hatch into early February after 45 days of incubation. Usually a single egg is laid and only one chick is ever brooded, with fledging at 85 days. Nest consists of a scrape on the ground on an inaccessible ledge or under shrubs usually near the tops of coastal sea cliffs or steep hills or on plateaus.
Diet consists of squid and fish taken far from shore.

Habitat
Marine, pelagic mainly in subtropical and tropical waters.

Threats
The main threat to the red-tailed tropicbird is reduction in the quality of foraging areas through climate-related shifts in oceanic resources. On Norfolk Island, threats include interference by people and predation by cats and rats where tropicbirds nest above the cliff edge or in accessible areas (such as Hundred Acres Reserve and Rocky Point Reserve). Most of the population is not under threat as they nest below the cliff edge. On Phillip Island complete reforestation would render the internal parts of the island unavailable for nesting and increase predation of unattended nestlings by purple swamphen.

Impact on other species
Excludes Kermadec petrel from