The first of the Longtails were spotted this week – which usually means spring is close!

A number of Longtails do return in February but are not commonly seen along the Bermuda coastline until well into March or April.

Andrew Dobson of the Bermuda Audubon Society said the first Longtails were seen displaying off the coast at Church Bay on Sunday morning, with further sightings off Spittal Pond on Monday and yesterday.

The White-tailed Tropic birds, Phaethon lepturus, better known as the Longtail, are native, not endemic, and usually return to Bermuda every spring. It is a pelagic bird, which means it lives most of its life in the open ocean, returning to land just to breed suitable nest sites close to the water. A single egg is laid and incubated by both adults with the chick hatching about 40 days later. The chick fledges about 12 weeks after hatching.

After breeding season, many gather in the Sargasso Sea, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Dog owners are encouraged to keep their dogs on leashes on coastal paths to prevent breeding failure during spring and summer.