Dance of the Longtails

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 Longtails.  How I love my longtails.  The Longtailed Tropical Bird does exist a few places other than Bermuda, but Bermuda is one of its nesting places as Bermuda is quite proud of this bird and lays claim to it.  There may be a Bermuda specific species, but I am not entirely sure.  This is one of Bermuda's ecological successes -- safekeeping habitat for Longtails and the Cahow, which was almost entirely eradicated by human settlement at one point.  Longtails winter on the ocean -- in fact they just have stubby little legs because they don't spend much time on land.  They nest on the rocky cliffs of the island and lay an egg, and raise the chick in Bermuda.  They only arrive around May, and are gone by fall.  But when they are here, they put on fantastic flying displays, reeling, diving, swooping, making sharp turns...and they really don't appear to be doing anything at all.  They aren't getting food, they aren't going anywhere.  They just seem to love to fly...and I love that about them.  Here are some snapshots of some longtails that were buzzing a cove in St. George's one June day.

synchronized flying

different stages of flight

note the long tail -- like a rudder!

this reminds me of Star Wars when the 2 Jedi fighters are flying into the Death Star

And the very elegant dance between two Longtails