His Wings are very long his feet are like other Land-fowl, and he builds on Trees, where he finds any but where they are wanting on the ground. It lives on Fish yet never lights on the water, but soars aloft like a Kite, and when it sees its prey, it flys down head foremost to the Waters edge, very swiftly takes its prey out of the Sea with his Bill, and immediately mounts again as swiftly never touching the Water with his Bill.

The Man-of-War (as it is called by the English) is about the bigness of a Kite, and in shape like it, but black and the neck is red. This name was used by the English explorer William Dampier in his book An Account of a New Voyage Around the World published in 1697: In the Caribbean frigatebirds were called Man-of-War birds by English mariners.

In his journal entry for 29 September he used the word rabiforçado, modern Spanish rabihorcado or forktail. Ĭhristopher Columbus encountered frigatebirds when passing the Cape Verde Islands on his first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492. Īlternative names and spellings include 'frigate bird', 'frigate-bird', 'frigate', 'frigate-petrel'. The etymology was mentioned by French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre when describing the bird in 1667. Like the genus name, the English term is derived from the French mariners' name for the bird la frégate-a frigate or fast warship. The book included an illustration of the male bird showing the red gular pouch. The term Frigate Bird itself was used in 1738 by the English naturalist and illustrator Eleazar Albin in his A Natural History of the Birds. Classified in the genus Limnofregata, the three species had shorter, less-hooked bills and longer legs, and lived in a freshwater environment. The oldest fossils date to the early Eocene, around 50 million years ago. Three of the five extant species of frigatebirds are widespread (the magnificent, great and lesser frigatebirds), while two are endangered (the Christmas Island and Ascension Island frigatebirds) and restrict their breeding habitat to one small island each. The Fregatidae are a sister group to Suloidea which consists of cormorants, darters, gannets, and boobies. The duration of parental care is among the longest of any bird species frigatebirds are only able to breed every other year. A single egg is laid each breeding season. A rough nest is constructed in low trees or on the ground on remote islands. Seasonally monogamous, frigatebirds nest colonially. Frigatebirds are referred to as kleptoparasites as they occasionally rob other seabirds for food, and are known to snatch seabird chicks from the nest. Their main prey are fish and squid, caught when chased to the water surface by large predators such as tuna. Their wings are long and pointed and can span up to 2.3 metres (7.5 ft), the largest wing area to body weight ratio of any bird.Īble to soar for weeks on wind currents, frigatebirds spend most of the day in flight hunting for food, and roost on trees or cliffs at night. Females have white underbellies and males have a distinctive red gular pouch, which they inflate during the breeding season to attract females. All have predominantly black plumage, long, deeply forked tails and long hooked bills. The five extant species are classified in a single genus, Fregata.

Fregata andrewsi – Christmas frigatebirdįrigatebirds are a family of seabirds called Fregatidae which are found across all tropical and subtropical oceans.

Fregata magnificens – Magnificent frigatebird.

Frigate bird florida