Magnificent Frigatebird

Magnificent Frigatebird

Magnificent Frigatebird: Large black seabird, orange throat patch inflates into a huge bright red-orange balloon when in courtship display. Long bill is gray, hooked. Wings are long and narrow. Tail is forked; legs and feet are dark gray. Eats fish, crustaceans, jellyfish. High soaring flight.

● Song: "kack", "ka-ack"

● Foraging & Feeding: Magnificent Frigatebird: Eats small fish, squid, jellyfish, crustaceans, hatchling sea turtles, young terns, birds, and their eggs; also scavenges for scraps around fishing boats and docks. Forages by shallow plunge diving or snatching food from the surface; chases terns and forces them to drop their catch.

● Breeding & nesting: Magnificent Frigatebird: One, rarely two, white eggs are laid in a flimsy platform made of sticks, grass, and stems, usually built in a mangrove, other tree, or bush, 2 to 20 feet above the ground or water; sometimes nests on the ground. Incubation ranges from 40 to 50 days and is carried out by both parents. Most females do not breed every year.

● Similar species: Magnificent Frigatebird: Great Frigatebird has pale brown wing coverts and glossy green head and back.

Flight Pattern