Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Magnificent Frigatebird







I know that this post should have been made last week, but we needed a new modem at our house, so...yeah.


I have decided to start talking about birds again. The first one is a bird I have never seen before and never may, primarily because it is a pelagic bird.


This bird lives in the tropical Atlantic area, breeding in areas aroung the Caribbean. This bird is also called the Man O'War for "its rakish lines, speed, and aerial piracy of other birds." (Source from Wikipedia)


Now, if you looked at that carefully you noticed the word "aerial piracy." True, the Magnifacent frigatebird is a pirate, like other friagtebirds. However, for now, we will just talk about the Magnificent frigatebird.


One other out of place fact, this bird is said to vagrant in Europe, which means some birds can be found there, but don't expect larger amounts.


Anyway, they are about 100 cm tall with a 215 cm wingspan, the measurements came in centimeters.


As you saw from the picture. The bird has a large red pouch, if you did not see this, look at the picture again, if you looked at it before...


Anyway, this pouch has one purpose, to attract mates and it is inflated during breeding season. The male is the only one with this pouch. The female looks similar to it, only it has no pouch and some other differences.


This bird is similar to other frigatebirds in size, except for the Lesser Frigatebird.


Now, about the aerial piracy. Although this is where they get their alternate name from, this is not where they primarily get their food from.


As for feeding in general, they do steal some food, but they catch the rest themselves. Unlike most pelagic birds, they can not take off from water, so they need to catch things in the air like eagles do.
I can't really say much more excpt that these birds are genetically close to pelicans.

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