Frigate Bird

Two of the world's five classes of Frigate Birds live in the Galápagos, both with interesting names mirroring their appearance -- the Great Frigate Bird (Fregataminor), and the Magnificent Frigate Bird (F. magnificens). Shipboard patrons in the Galápagos often find Frigate Birds easily loafing on the supports or line, their aged shape eerily symbolic of a pre-historic flying reptiles. This incredible acrobatic flyer is a regular sight around the boats and beaches.

Magnificent Frigate BirdFregata magnificens What does a Greater Frigate Bird look like? The Greater Frigate Bird is a large and strong black bird with a long, angled bill, a large red crop with black dots extending from its nib to its throat. The adult male Frigate Bird displays a completely black plumage and has a red, expanding throat sac.

The adult female bird has a white breast that extends up to the chin, with a red eye-ring and the rest of her feathers are black. The immature Frigate Bird shows a white head and breast while the remainder of their plumage remains black. The male has a faint green sheen on its back, especially notable during the courtship season.

The male Magnificent Frigate Bird's back sheen is purple, the female's breast feathers end at the throat, and her eye-ring is blue. Both species of Frigate Birds are long winged, web footed sea birds, known for their smooth and elegant long range flights.

With its size , long, pointed wings and forked tail the Frigate Bird is immediately distinguishable even at long distances. The Frigate Birds are also known as "man o' war." This still is a light weight bird even with a wing span of nearly 90 inches and an overall length of about 30 inches. Their forked tail assists their capacity to shift direction swiftly and navigate with ease to very high altitudes. They readily soar on their long, pointed wings and long, forked tail. People most often see these magnificent birds soaring over coastal areas.

Strangely, the Frigate Bird has one of the longest term of adolescence of all birds. After hatching it may be six months before the chick is able to fly. Even then, the young birds may depend on its parents for food for over a year, and they do not reach full sexual maturity for almost five years.

How does it move? It walks, but it does not walk very smoothly.

Where does the greater Frigate Bird live? The Greater Frigate Bird lives in open ocean areas like the Indian and Pacific Oceans. When not flying for food they stay in their nests of twigs on cliffs near the water.

In comparison, the slightly larger Magnificent Frigate Bird is more seaside oriented in its environment, with an expanse extending into the Caribbean and up the Pacific coast to California. It is in these nesting regions where the Frigate Birds are at their most notable.

The males of both species have a bright red throat sac that they expand to a false size, to attract the attention of likely mates. The males of both species openly perch in bushes or sit on the rocky earth, their throat sacs inflated. When a female flies over-head, apparent to the males by the white breast feathers, the males set up a discord of a howl or hoot and shake their wings, exposing their gular sacs to attract the greatest attention. The male has a very bright red inflatable pouch to attract the female. You can see the inflated pouch from a long distance.

Once the male Frigate Bird entices a female to mate, the pair fashions a rough nest in shrubs or low trees. Eggs and chicks are often lost in the first few weeks, and wooing must begin again with new pairs being formed until successful breeding is certain. They found that the Great Frigate Bird in most tropical oceans and it nests in the Galápagos on Genovesa and San Cristóbal islands. Explorers found the Magnificent Frigate Bird on the Galápagos, on North Seymour Island and San Cristóbal, where they share nesting areas with the Great Frigate Bird.

The pair of birds have one brood each year. The female lays a single egg and incubated for about two months.

Their diet consist mostly of fish and other marine creatures. Frigate Birds are also piratical feeders, tormenting diving birds like boobies and forcing them to drop their prey. Then the Frigate Bird picks the booby's food out of the air before it hits water. They circle in the air in anticipation of stealing the meals from birds returning from their fishing trips. For this reason they call them the pirate bird.

When not harassing other birds for food the Frigate Bird eats fish from the sea. This proficiency in flight permits then to pluck small fish from the very surface of the water, immersing only their bill into the sea or even preying on flying fish in their mid-flight. Humans are the greater frigate's greatest enemy.

The US Navy honored the Frigate bird by naming vessels after them. The first Frigate Bird Boat (AMC-27) served in a noncommissioned status in the 13th Naval District between 30 January 1941 and 27 April 1943.

Also some countries honored the Frigate Bird by issuing Postage Stamps.