You can read about Fregata magnificens and their courtship displays, gular pouches, nesting habits, names, uses to mankind (if any), and 10 magnificent facts about them at my Rolling Harbour site HERE. These birds are sky-pirates, stealing fish in the air from other birds. Tropicbirds are a particular target. They catch fish and keep them in their gullets as they fly back to the nest to feed their young. The frigatebirds will swoop on them, catch them by the leg and hold them upside-down until they regurgitate the fish. Often the frigate bird will manage to release the tropicbird and dive to catch the fish before it hits the water.

     CLICK LOGO TO VIEW A BBC / DAVID ATTENBOROUGH CLIP OF AN AERIAL ROBBERY 

Film clip: Female FB has TB by the leg & shakes it until the fish  (circled) drops out

A MAN-O-WAR GALLERY

A male in flight (a most unusual shot, taken from above)

Juveniles being delinquent

A female in flight: the white front is the invariable distinguishing feature

10 FACTS ABOUT FRIGATEBIRDS

• The largest of several frigatebird species around the world
• Found in tropical and subtropical waters
• Females have white fronts – easily distinguishable from males in flight
• Adult wingspan is 7+ feet = largest wing-area / bodyweight ratio of any bird
• Can remain in flight and far out to sea for many days
• KLEPTOPARASITES – will rob other seabirds of their food
• Diet: mainly fish & squid from the water’s surface; seabird chicks
• Nest in colonies, producing a single egg every other season
• Don’t land on water, as they can’t float; and feeble at walking on land
• One of the earliest depictions of a frigatebird is by Eleazar Albin in 1737. He was a naturalist contemporary of MARK CATESBY & pre-dated AUDUBON

Credits: Michael Vaughn for all photos; Birdorable cartoon; TV CLIP bbc.co.uk  © copyright 2009 BBC