Frigate birds exist as the nautical equivalent of tropical bird marauders. These beaked opportunists have few avian rivals in the wild. But their main characteristic (or wow factor) is their bloat chested response to mating and courtship and their marathon flights. Frigate birds canvas the sky looking for the foodstuffs of other birds or unintelligent fish swimming close to the water surface, yet curiously frigate birds lack waterproof feathers. They also screen the sky of the other local birds’ dinner.

Frigate birds can fly huge distances and for extended amount of time, yet station their habitat around fixed locales. Known for flight, on land these birds carry a different quality. The puffing breasted red balloon of the frigate is unique among many bird species and tropical bird types. The frigate bird is something of a pelican and something of a hawk. Ornithological writing depict an incident when a frigate bird captured in New Zealand (not its habitat) were supposed to have spent the whole day flying there.

The great frigate bird (in full sail) has been known to spend as much as 12 days on the wing. Frigate birds range far over sea looking for opportunities to nab fish from sea or air, but return to land to roost. The flying silhouette of the frigate bird is fascinating to observe for the land navigation of the bird with quadruped webbing and ballooning sac contrasts weirdly in function. Frigate birds might be seen in the Hood Islands, Ecuador, North Seymour Island, Christmas Island, Floreana Island and Wolf (Wenman) Island.

The Magnificens and Greater Frigate bird have a breast and under throat sac which grows to massive size. The balloon appearing chest puffery amazes bird watchers all over the world. The red inflated balloon sac is visible from several hundred yards, easily attracting the focus of bird watchers, female frigate birds, and predators. Yet the frigate bird is often supposed to have a reptilian appearance at odds with its acrobatic flying.

Conservation of frigate birds is attracting interest and the movement is growing into a threatened wildlife concern on a species by species basis. Many subspecies breed in single locations around the world. Frigate birds are completely unknown to many pet owners and bird watchers due to their obscure native origins and standalone breeding habitats. A frigate bird is a bird not only not desirable as a pet but almost impossible to capture and raise in domestication.

Frigate birds live in woodland scrub and light forestation. The Great frigate bird, two species of which are known as Fregata Minor, and Magnificent frigatebird termed the Fregata Magnificens, each have four webbed toes and a gular (balloon). The transformative effect of the swelling breast sac in the mail makes the upright bird with the slender wingspan look almost henlike. Frigate birds do seem similar to gulls and pelicans but maintain perched calling and egg nesting behavior like other bird species.

The long range flights of the frigate bird contrasts strangely with their limited location species survival. Frigate birds are threatened by human settlement and interaction with them inside fixed habitation locales.

During breeding season, frigate birds are found in coastal Florida and in tropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Frigate birds have been sighted off the coast of North Carolina,  south along the East Coast to Florida and over land as far as Texas. Frigate bird habitation is also seen at the coast of California. Preferred habitats of the frigate bird include cliffs on ocean coasts, semitropical bay waterlands, and tropical islands.

The great frigatebird can go 12 days on the wing. The frigate bird vocalization is a kind of uttered clacking. Frigate birds cannot plunge like pelicans, when wet they can’t take off without difficulty. If their wing span got fully wet it might drown them. Even with a 90 inch wing span water sopping adult frigate birds may have trouble from taking off in water. Surface dipping and fixed habitat feeding may explain species limitations in survival.

The hooked bill of the frigate bird means business. The frigate bird perches less, hunts more than many in its family. Bills dip inside and under the water for marine life including crustaceans and jellyfish. But frigate birds also feed by dive bombing other birds and capturing their prey. Thus the pirate bird appellation is explained. Boobies and pelicans must clutch their supper carefully when flying through frigate bird territories.

Limited  feeding opportunities in unproductive waters mean frigate birds don't spend much time near the surface of the water. The narrow wings of frigate birds still have the lowest wing-loading of any bird species. Frigate birds have the longest period of required parental care of any bird species, possibly connected to an unusually long life expectancy of thirty or more years.

The balloon sac for mating commencement is explained by the lack of hardiness in the nesting rituals. The pair of birds will have one brood each year. The female lays a single egg and incubated for about two months. Hatched chicks need guarding and may wilt in tropical island heat without shade. Nests can fall victim to weather, bad hunting, or theft. This makes frigate bird life in the wild a long shot. The frigate bird species left today are testaments to natural species adaptations to tropical waters and limited habitation environments.

Please visit the Tropical Bird Forum for information about tropical birds.

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