Red-billed Tropicbird on the nest

Sightings
It was nearing the end of the breeding season and this Red-billed Tropicbird on the nest on Little Tobago was an excellent find. The nest was positioned near one of the lookout points on the island and although mostly hidden there was a line of sight to the bird. The photo was taken with a long lens and I was positioned farther from the nest than it would seem from the photo.

Species
Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus is one of only three species in the Tropicbird family Phaethontidae. There are three subspecies of which P. a. mesonauta is found in the Caribbean.

Status and Distribution
The species is of least concern but it has a small and decreasing global population of between 3,000 and 13,000 in its huge range of 136 million square kilometres. It is a local but common resident on islands off east and north east Tobago in the breeding season but rare off Trinidad. Red-billed Tropicbird has the smallest range of the three tropicbird species, yet it still ranges across the neotropics, as well as the tropical Atlantic, eastern Pacific and Indian oceans.

References
BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 44

Photograph
The bird was photographed in shade at 1/200th of a second at f5.6 and ISO 1000 with exposure compensation.