Currency of Bermuda 50 Dollars banknote 2009 Longtail
Bermuda Monetary Authority
Obverse: The main Motive on banknote are the White-tailed tropicbird, where it is locally called a "longtail" - the national bird of Bermuda. On the background is the flower Hibiscus rosa sinensis. Above is Bermuda's coast in daytime and, again, the white-tailed tropicbird as see-through registration device. Under it is a hologram window with Bermuda profile inside. The portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II wearing a diamond tiara appears on the front left corner of each note. The portrait used for this note series is the traditional image of the Her Majesty that is featured on the stamps of the UK. Before serial number - the Bermuda onion.
Reverse: View of St. Peter's Church, in St. George's, Bermuda. Along left border are butterflies Danaus plexippus.
Colour: Yellow.
Dimensions: 140 × 68 mm.
Printer: Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited, London, England.
See-Through: New Bermuda Notes have a unique feature called OPTIKS in the form of an oval on the front and strip on the back which look metallic in reflected (day) light but which form a transparent oval with a map of Bermuda repeated inside when held up to the light.
Additional security features are as follows:
■ Watermark and Electrotype (When the note is held up to the light a hibiscus flower and a bright sail boat are visible)
■ See-through feature (completed images of creatures individual to each denomination will appear when the note is held up to the light)
■ Serial numbers increasing in size
■ Iridescent band on the $20; $50 and $100 denominations
■ Latent image (tilt the image and an image of the denomination numeral will appear)
White-tailed tropicbird
The white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) is a tropicbird, smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It occurs in the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Oceans. It also breeds on some Caribbean islands, and a few pairs have started nesting recently on Little Tobago, joining the red-billed tropicbird colony. In addition to the tropical Atlantic, it nests as far north as Bermuda, where it is locally called a "longtail".
The white-tailed tropicbird breeds on tropical islands laying a single egg directly onto the ground or a cliff ledge. It disperses widely across the oceans when not breeding, and sometimes wanders far. It feeds on fish and squid, caught by surface plunging, but this species is a poor swimmer. The call is a high screamed keee-keee-krrrt-krrt-krrt.
The adult white-tailed tropicbird is a slender, mainly white bird, 71–80 cm long including the very long central tail feathers, which double its total length. The wingspan is 89–96 cm, and there is a black band on the inner wing There is black through the eye and the bill is orange-yellow to orange red. The bill colour, pure white back and black wing bar distinguish this species from red-billed.
Sexes are similar, although males average longer tailed, but juveniles lack the tail streamers, have a green-yellow bill, and a finely barred back.
The white-tailed tropicbird does not have a yearly breeding cycle; instead breeding frequency depends on the climate and availability of suitable breeding sites. The bird can reproduce 10 months after the last successful breeding, or 5 months after an unsuccessful one.
There are six races:
Phaethon lepturus lepturus — Indian Ocean
Phaethon lepturus fulvus (golden bosun) — Christmas Island. This form has a golden wash to the white plumage
Phaethon lepturus dorotheae — tropical Pacific
Phaethon lepturus catesbyi — Bermuda and Caribbean
Phaethon lepturus ascensionis — Ascension Island
Phaethon lepturus europae — Europa Island, s. Mozambique Channel
Folklore
The ancient Chamorro people called the white-tailed tropicbird utak or itak, and believed that when it would scream over a house it meant that someone would soon die or that an unmarried girl was pregnant. Its call would kill anyone who didn't believe in it. Chamorro fishermen would find schools of fish by watching them.