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Tropicbird

Birds
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A graceful, white seabird with extremely long tail streamers, nesting on tropical islands.

Detailed Definition
Tropicbirds symbolize exotic beauty, oceanic solitude, and the allure of remote places in poetry. Their streaming tails and aerial grace evoke themes of freedom and elegance. Rarely seen except near nesting cliffs, they represent the hidden wonders of the tropics. Poets use tropicbirds to explore longing, the sublime in marine spaces, and the fragility of island ecosystems threatened by human encroachment and climate change.
Example
Example in poetry:
In tropical island poetry, the tropicbird’s long tail streamers symbolize exotic beauty, oceanic solitude, and aerial grace; Poets use the red-billed tropicbird’s dramatic nesting on sea cliffs to evoke the hidden wonders of remote archipelagos; Ecopoets reference tropicbirds to discuss the vulnerability of island endemics to invasive species and climate change; Its white plumage and black eye markings appear in descriptive verse to illustrate stark elegance against blue skies; The tropicbird’s harsh, grating calls add acoustic texture to poems set on volcanic islands; Its pelagic life—rarely seen except near colonies—inspires metaphors for elusive, far-ranging existence.
Additional Notes
Tropicbird: Streamer-tailed seabirds of tropical oceans, tropicbirds symbolize remote beauty, nautical omens, and aerial elegance. Their long tail feathers were once prized—linking them to human desire and exploitation. In poetry, they evoke paradise, distance, or the fragility of island ecosystems.
Also Known As
Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird Yellow-billed Tropicbird
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