tropic bird

8.2

A mostly white sea bird with webbed feet and long tail feathers that lives in warm seas far from land

noun
/ˈtrɒpɪk bɜrd/

: pájaro tropical

The distinctive tail streamers of the tropic bird make it easy to identify.

Examples

Look at that tropic bird!
Many photographers travel to remote islands just to capture images of the elusive tropic bird.
We spotted a tropic bird soaring above the open ocean during our boat trip.
The tropic bird glided effortlessly over the ocean.
While sailing the open ocean, we spotted a tropic bird gracefully gliding above the waves with its long tail feathers trailing behind.
During our tropical vacation, we observed a beautiful tropic bird nesting on a cliff far from shore.
The tropic bird is often seen soaring in the sky, its striking white plumage contrasting against the deep blue of the ocean.

Synonyms

tropicbird

vstropic bird

8.7

A mostly white sea bird with webbed feet and long tail feathers that lives far from land

is the two word descriptive name rather than the single word form

boatswain bird

vstropic bird

9.9

A mostly white tropical bird with webbed feet and long tail feathers that lives at sea

is the standard descriptive name not only a colloquial or common label

Surface Forms

tropic bird singular

tropic birds plural

Morphology

tropic + bird

The meaning is directly compositional: 'tropic' (pertaining to tropical regions) + 'bird' yields 'a bird from tropical regions', a straightforward, cross-linguistically common construction. Specific species traits (white plumage, webbed feet, long tail) are additional encyclopedic details but not required for basic understanding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would infer the MWE's general meaning.

Etymology

The name tropic bird comes from sailors who saw this white bird in the warm tropic seas far from land. Because of that clear picture, tropic bird now means a 'seabird' from tropical waters with long tail feathers.