including Ascension, and Saint Helena on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and Fernando de Noronha and Abrolhos Archipelago in Brazilian waters. It is a vagrant to the coastline of Namibia and South Africa. The subspecies P. a. mesonauta is found in the east Atlantic, the east Pacific, and in the Caribbean. This subspecies was restricted to the Cape Verde Islands in the eastern Atlantic but it has colonised the Canary Islands in the 21st century, especially Fuerteventura but also on other islands in that archipelago. The Indian Ocean subspecies, P. a. indicus is found in waters off Pakistan, western India, southwestern Sri Lanka, the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula. The subspecies is also a rare but regular vagrant to Seychelles. Within the West Indies, this species is most common in the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands and small islands east of Puerto Rico. Breeding in the Western Palearctic occurs on the Cape Verde Islands and the Îles des Madeleines off Senegal. In 2000, the total number of pairs there was probably less than 150. In the Pacific Ocean, it breeds from the Gulf of California and Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico in the north, to the Galápagos Islands, Isla Plata, Ecuador and San Lorenzo Island, Peru. Researchers Larry Spear and David Ainley estimated the minimum population of the Pacific at around 15,750 birds in 1995 after 15 years of field observations. Red-billed tropicbirds disperse widely when not breeding, the juveniles more so than the adults, with birds in the Pacific reaching the 45th parallel north off Washington State and 32nd parallel south off Chile, with 19 records as of 2007 from Hawaii—some from Mexico. It sometimes wanders further, including five records from Great Britain, and two from Australia: October–December 2010 on Lord Howe Island and September 2014 on Ashmore Reef. In July 2005, one was found in eastern New Brunswick, Canada, while another has been seen at Matinicus Rock, Maine regularly since 2000. Behavior The red-billed tropicbird can reach speeds of when flying out at sea, cruising a minimum of above the sea. It cannot stand and is not proficient at walking, and requires an unobstructed takeoff to fly from land. Conversely it can lift off the sea without much effort. Its plumage is waterproof and it floats on water. Breeding The red-billed tropicbird usually nests on isolated cliff faces, in loose colonies. It uses a simple scrape nest, located in a place it