Magnificent Frigatebird
Fregata magnificens
A seabird that can't swim, stays up in the air for days, and steals other birds' lunch.
Frigatebirds are seabirds that never land on the sea. Their feathers aren't waterproof, so instead they stay in the air, gliding on long, bent wings for days and nights at a time. They snatch fish from the surface without getting wet, or chase other seabirds until they drop their catch. In breeding season, males blow up a huge red balloon under their throats to attract females.
On the conservation status
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. But some colonies are shrinking: in Bahía Magdalena, Baja California Sur, one of the most important colonies has lost almost all its birds as many of the mangroves they nest in have died.
- Length
- 89–114 cm (35–45 in)
- Wingspan
- Up to 2.4 m (8 ft)
- Weight
- Only 1.1–1.6 kg (2.4–3.5 lb)
- Top speed
- About 150 km/h (95 mph)
- Diet
- Flying fish, squid, other birds' catch
- Chick care
- Almost a year, by mum
The good stuff.
A seabird that can't swim
A frigatebird's feathers aren't waterproof, and its legs are tiny. It can't swim and it can't take off from the water, so it never lands on the sea. It even grabs its food from the surface in flight.
Days and nights in the air
With huge wings on such a light body, it can glide for hours without a single flap, riding rising air up to 2,500 m high, and stay aloft right through the night.
Pirate of the sea
Frigatebirds chase boobies and other seabirds, pecking at them and grabbing their tails until they drop or cough up their fish. Then the frigatebird catches it before it hits the water.
The red balloon
In breeding season, males sit together in the mangroves and blow up their red throat pouches like balloons, rattling and drumming to catch the eye of females flying overhead.
A very long childhood
The father leaves after a few months, but the mother keeps feeding the chick for almost a year — one of the longest times any bird looks after its young.
Little scissors
Its long, forked tail opens and closes like a pair of scissors as it steers, which is why in Mexico it's called tijereta: little scissors.
Wait, really?
- ✦
Sailors called it the man-o'-war bird, after the warships of their day, for the way it attacks other birds.
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Males are all black except for the red pouch. Females have a white chest.
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In the 1980s, about 20,000 pairs nested on Isla Santa Margarita in Bahía Magdalena, one of the biggest colonies of its kind ever counted.
What it sounds like
Silent at sea. At the colony, males with their pouches puffed up make a rattling, drumming sound to attract females.
We haven't found a recording we're allowed to share yet, so for now this one is a description.
Where you might see one
Look up over almost any harbour or beach in Baja California Sur — Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Isla Espíritu Santo, Bahía Magdalena — for the forked tail. Also Florida, the Caribbean and the Galápagos.
The trouble
- Mangroves where they nest being cut down or dying
- Disturbance at nesting colonies
- Food shortages in warm-water years
One real thing
Frigatebirds need mangroves to nest in, and mangroves also shelter baby fish and protect coasts from storms. Support the people who protect and replant them, and never disturb a nesting colony.
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