The frigate is an amazing bird. frigatebirds frigate animal

The great frigatebird is one of those few birds that spend almost their entire lives in flight.

The large frigatebird has the highest wing size to weight ratio compared to other birds: their wing size can reach from 205 to 230 cm, while the body weight is only one and a half kilograms, and the body length is from 85 to 105 cm. But the legs, on the contrary, are so small that the great frigatebird is almost unable to walk on land and cannot swim at all, since there are no membranes on the paws.

A distinctive feature of this bird is the W-shaped tail, with the help of which the frigatebird improves its maneuverability during flight.

The great frigatebird is one of the few seabirds that show sexual dimorphism in size and plumage. The size of males is smaller than that of females, and their feather cover over the entire body is colored black, cast on the back with a greenish-violet sheen. The male can also be identified by the skin bag located on the chest, which he inflates during the mating season to a huge size. At the same time, its color becomes bright red. The male needs this decoration solely to attract females. In females, the upper body is also black, but the feathers on the chest and belly are white. The color of the young resembles the color of females, however, the feathers on its back are not black, but brown.

The habitat of large frigatebirds is in tropical waters, to be precise - from 25 degrees north to 25 degrees south latitude. The species of large frigates combines five subspecies, which differ from each other in color and size.

Breeding colonies of large frigatebirds are located on islands located in the Pacific Ocean, the western part of the Atlantic Ocean and the southern part of the Indian Ocean.

The male of a large frigate is the owner of a luxurious “bust”.

Since there are no predators of this type on the islands, large frigatebirds may not be afraid to build nests in bushes, only half a meter above the ground. Before nest building begins, mating games take place between large frigatebirds. During this period, the males are located on the bushes, and begin to inflate their throat bags, while lifting their heads up and spreading their wings. In addition, they demonstrate their vocal skills. Females fly over this singing orchestra for several days and look after their partner. Large frigatebirds breed once every two, and in some cases three, years.

A red "apron" on the chest is necessary for the male of a large frigate during the mating season.

The time for which the breeding season falls is not the same everywhere and depends on the habitat of these birds. Obviously, this is due to periods of food availability. The nest of a large frigate has the form of a platform built from branches and other materials at hand. These birds nest in colonies, which can include about a hundred birds. For nesting, places are chosen that are protected from the wind and heated by the sun. There is only one egg in the clutch, which is incubated by both parents, changing at intervals of 3 to 18 days. The chick hatches in 1.5 months. He is completely helpless and completely naked. The chick of a large frigate grows slowly, it begins to fly only when it reaches the age of five months. For another 7-8 months, he does not leave the territory adjacent to the nest, eating what his parents bring him, and completely relying on their protection. Sexual maturity of large frigatebirds occurs at the age of 5-7 years.

The big frigate eats in a very peculiar way, having developed an individual strategy for obtaining food. The fact that these birds can soar in the air for many hours allows them to take prey from other birds - petrels, phaetons, and pelicans. When a frigatebird sees a bird returning from hunting, it catches up with it and begins to beat with its beak and wings until it achieves that it burps what it has eaten. As soon as this happens, this feathered pirate picks up prey in flight and eats it. And several large frigates can attack at once.

Frigatebirds are fairly large but very light seabirds. Weight different types from 1.3 to 1.8 kg, and a wingspan of up to 2 m or more. They have huge wide wings, a forked tail, a large head with a long hooked beak and small paws with notched membranes, weak fingers and sharp claws. The coloration of adult birds is mostly black with a metallic sheen. The females are larger and in some species have a white breast. Young frigatebirds of all species have a white head, the rest of the plumage is brown.

Frigatebirds are excellent flyers. At sea, they are more often seen soaring at high altitudes or flying lightly with wide, free flapping wings. Periodically, they make quick gentle throws for prey. Then again hover or fly.

Frigatebirds are common in tropical and subtropical latitudes. They fly into the ocean hundreds of kilometers from land.

They nest in colonies on sea islands, often in association with other seabirds. The male chooses the site of the future nest and displays a swollen throat sac of bright red color. It spreads its wings wide and spreads its tail. A mating call like a gurgling trill resonates in the throat pouch. For hours, males sit in such positions, attracting females hovering above them.

Nests are placed on low trees, on bushes, and if there are none, then simply on rocks. They lay one white egg. Both parents incubate. The chick hatches on the 40-50th day. At the age of 4-5 months, young birds are already fully feathered, they can fly, but their parents feed them for many more months.

In addition to food taken from other birds, frigatebirds catch squids and fish on their own, grabbing them from the fly on the surface of the water, and flying fish during their flight.

Frigatebirds cannot dive at all, their weak legs are not suitable for walking on land or for swimming. In addition, they have an underdeveloped coccygeal gland, so their plumage quickly gets wet. Frigates forced to land on the water cannot then take off. Thus, landing on the water for such a bird means death.

Frigatebirds are generally silent, but some kind of grumbling and clicking of beaks is always heard near their nests.
In the Hawaiian Islands, frigates were used like carrier pigeons to send messages from island to island.

Frigatebirds are a clearly delineated family in the order Copepoda. Often they are considered as a separate suborder. All 5 modern species frigatebirds are included in the genus Fregata.

The fossil family has been known since the Lower Eocene.

At big frigate(F. minor) The male is black, with a brown tinge on the underside of the body. The head and back feathers have a greenish-bronze metallic sheen. A dark brown stripe runs along the top of the wings. The length of the male is 86-100 cm, its wingspan is 230 cm. The females are smaller and have a brown color on the neck and a white color on the bottom of the neck and chest.

The great frigatebird is the most common bird in the family. It inhabits the tropical parts of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic (Trinidad island) oceans.

These frigatebirds appear at their nests in the Hawaiian Islands in late December. At first, they are inactive, either sitting quietly in the trees, or hovering high above the island. From the end of January, adult birds begin to carry branches for nests, while often stealing construction material in other birds. In February, egg laying begins, which does not occur simultaneously in different pairs. The chicks hatch, after about 41 days of incubation, naked, helpless. Later they dress in white down. In mid-June, young birds of different ages can already be seen in the nests. The death of chicks is great, as adult frigatebirds attack even fully feathered chicks from other people's nests. Already feathered young frigatebirds also rob the nests and sometimes eat their smaller relatives.

In the daytime, you can often see frigatebirds suddenly descending to a lake with fresh water and gaining a full beak of water. Frigates resting after feeding on the bushes let a person close to them. At this time, they have so many fish in their stomachs that, frightened, they must burp them before taking off. Mairo, a researcher of the fauna of the Hawaiian Islands, writes that he was able to collect flying fish in the colony of frigatebirds, completely intact.

Frigate family

Large frigatebird (Fregata minor). Habitat - Tropics and subtropics of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans Wingspan 1.7 m Weight 1.5 kg

Frigatebirds are birds related to pelicans and cormorants. Their English name - "man-of-war-birds" ("warrior birds") - speaks of the peculiarities of behavior.

These are true pirates of the oceans, ruthlessly robbing other birds. Narrow wings and a long forked tail make them excellent fliers capable of acrobatic stunts in the air. At the same time, their feathers get wet quickly, they swim poorly and take off from the water, they can’t dive at all, they are clumsy on the ground and because of this they spend most of their lives in the sky, from time to time taking short breaks in the trees.

Current frigates are an amazing sight. In males, a red-crimson leather sac swells on the throat. It is so big that the bird has to lift its head. Males spread their wings, shake their beaks, and make loud noises. Nothing more they can offer to their chosen ones. The nest has not yet been built. However, whose throat bag is cooler, that is the greater attention of feathered ladies. If the frigateha rubs her head against the red bubble of the male, then the marriage union will be fixed.

Frigates have others interesting features behavior. These birds fly beautifully. They can soar in the air for a long time without making a single flap of their wings. They are long, narrow in frigates, and the tail is forked - usually it has the shape of the English letter W. Frigates swim poorly. They don't have webbing on their paws. The plumage gets wet in the water. Such feathers help cormorants and darters to dive, but frigatebirds have not learned to hunt like that. They can't take off from the water at all. They need to start from a branch or other step. It is no coincidence that the frigate on the coat of arms of the dwarf island nation of Nauru is depicted sitting on a perch. Flying fish are often prey for frigatebirds. Their frigates deftly catch in the air. They can grab crustaceans from the surface without landing on the water. You can’t get hold of anything more above the smooth surface of the waters. On land, they can attack hatched sea turtles from the air. However, such a feast happens once a year, not more often. Therefore, frigates have mastered the profession of pirates. They swoop down on other birds returning to shore with prey. They beat them with wings and peck with their beak until they release what they have caught or even regurgitate what they have swallowed from the goiter or stomach. Frigatebirds manage to catch these pieces of food on the fly. On the large birds attacked by a small group. Sometimes chicks are stolen from the nests of other birds, and the building material for building the nests themselves is also stolen. So sea, or rather air piracy was invented long before the advent of human civilization.

There are five types of frigates. All lovers of the tropics and subtropics. For example, it is very rare to see a magnificent frigate in Europe. Magnificent is not an epithet, but the name of a species. This is a rather large sea bird with a wingspan of more than two meters. These frigates, like other species, weigh a little - no more than one and a half or two kilograms. Only strong hurricane winds bring these frigates to the Atlantic coasts of Europe.

A large frigate flies over the expanses of three oceans - Indian, Pacific and Atlantic. Only the need for procreation drives him to the coral and volcanic islands. It seems that if these birds learned to breed chicks on the water, they would forever forget about land. Eagle frigatebirds nest on Ascension Island. These are the remains of an ancient volcano that continues to protrude above the waters of the Atlantic about half way from the western coast of Africa to South America.

There used to be a lot of these birds on the island. Nothing threatened their clutches and nests - there were no predators. When the Europeans brought rats and cats to the island, the quiet life of the local frigates ended. There are very few of them left. Frigatebirds breed rather slowly. There is one egg in the clutch, and its pairs are laid every 2-3 years. It takes a month and a half to hatch it, and feed the chick for at least six months. Parents feed even an already flying chick until it learns to get food on its own.

Ariel frigate

The range is the water area and islands of the Indian Ocean, the western and central parts of the Pacific Ocean, the islands and the water area of ​​the tropical Atlantic. Ariel frigatebirds nest in large colonies and may ravage the nests of other frigatebirds.

Ariel frigatebirds are similar in size and coloration to cormorants, but they have longer wings and a long forked tail. Males have transverse white spots on the sides of the chest, while females have dark chin and throat. The range is the water area and islands of the Indian Ocean, the western and central parts of the Pacific Ocean, the islands and the water area of ​​the tropical Atlantic. Ariel frigates stay mainly in the tropics and subtropics, but during long-distance migrations they can also fly into temperate latitudes.

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These unusual birds are known for their bright red throat pouch, which only males of the magnificent Frigatebird have during the breeding season. This throat pouch can inflate as balloon, reflecting the deep black of the rest of the bird's plumage. Female frigatebirds are also black, but with a white breast. The birds also have a long gray beak with a curved edge.

Magnificent frigatebirds live on the coast of Florida and California. They spend most of their time in flight and have a habit of chasing other birds and snatching their food. Frigatebirds mainly feed on small fish, squid and jellyfish.

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The large crest of the male Andean cock-of-the-rock gives it a completely unusual appearance. They have a bright orange head, neck and chest, a black body and gray wings. Unlike males, females have a small crest and a brownish-orange coloration of the upper body. Considered the national bird of Peru.

They mainly live within the Andes in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia. Andean rock cockerels grow to a length of only 32 cm and weigh up to 230 grams. Their nests have a concave cup-shaped shape; birds use saliva, mud, and plant waste to build them. The main food is fruits, berries, and insects.

Video from this beautiful bird You can see below:

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The Astrapia is a medium-sized bird found only in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. It is the long tail of the males that makes this species so attractive. In terms of the ratio of the length of the tail feathers to the size of the body, they have the longest tail of any bird in the world.

The length of the tail of astrapias reaches 1 meter, while the body length is only 30 cm. The plumage of these birds is olive green and bronze. Females do not have such a long tail, and males use their tails and bright plumage to attract females. Astrapias females are more inconspicuous and have brownish-black plumage.

You can watch this beautiful bird in the video:

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Elongated scalloped decorative feathers make appearance scaly bird of paradise is very festive and unusual. The length of these head feathers reaches 50cm. At will, the bird can wave them in different directions. scaly bird of paradise lives only in New Guinea.

They build their nests on the Kratke Ridge at an altitude of 1400 to 2800 meters above sea level. Competing with other males to attract females, males use not only feathers on their heads, but also loud unusual singing.

Watch the video with this unusual bird below:

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Wonderful birds of paradise, which are known for their bright plumage and mating dances, live only in the forests of New Guinea. Males and females are very different. Males have a bright blue crest, a shirt-front of blue-green feathers on the chest and velvety black on the back. Reddish brown females are not as attractive as males.

In a population of wonderful birds of paradise, females are much smaller than males. Therefore, males have serious competition due to females. To attract them, males display a spectacular mating dance. This courtship occurs by raising the black feathers at the back and the blue-green shield from the front up and moving them symmetrically. In order for the female to choose this particular male, loud singing is also used.

This small unusual bird reaches a length of only 26 cm and weighs from 60 to 100 grams. The wonderful bird of paradise prefers to settle on the sloping mountain ranges of New Guinea at an altitude of 1600 to 2300 meters above sea level.

Magnificent mating dance of this very unusual bird You can see our rating in the video below:

Frigatebirds are amazing birds. Few of the winged have so masterfully mastered the art of flight. The long tail of a frigate with a deep notch, like a swallow. The pectoral muscles, the engine for the wings, plus the plumage weigh half the entire frigate. Bones are filled with air. The specific load on the surface of the wing of the frigate is perhaps less than that of any other seabird. The wingspan is two meters, while the frigate itself, with a body length of one meter, weighs only 1.5-2 kilograms.

Classification

Class - Birds
Order - Pelicans
Family - Frigate
Rod - Frigate

There is no bird more short-legged: its tiny legs are shorter than those of a lark or starling, a little more than two centimeters long. Because of these mini-legs, they are also almost without membranes, the frigatebird cannot swim. Can't even dive. Almost never sits on the water. And if he sat down, not always, they say, he will be able to take off: the wings are too long, neither spread nor wave on the water, and the paws are short, you can’t jump on them. The coccygeal gland is also tiny, a poorly salted feather gets wet quickly. He can’t take off from land, far from a cliff from which you can rush down and fly. Only rocks, bushes and trees are suitable landing sites for frigates.

Frigates hover over the ocean for hours. They play, writing amazing turns in the sky, or, descending to the water itself, snatch fish, jellyfish, crustaceans from the surface of the waves. They also catch flying fish. But their main occupation is robbery.

Frigates can fly for a long time, looking for food for themselves, then deftly dive and catch it on the fly. These birds do not land on water for several reasons. The frigate has weak and short legs, the membrane between the long fingers is poorly developed. Therefore, they cannot start from the water surface and from the ground, by the way, too. But the claws are sharp and curved in order to grab prey in flight. Also, the frigate cannot be wetted with feathers, because. they get wet quickly. The wings of a frigate bird are too long, which also prevents it from taking off from the water. So it turns out that these sea birds do not know how to swim and dive, and they cannot even walk. Frigatebirds prefer to sit and rest on tree branches. But still, frigates have an advantage, they fly beautifully, and in speed and maneuver when hunting, they have no equal.

Frigates patrol the sea coasts, guarding birds returning with prey. Noticing from a height a cormorant, a gannet, a gull, a tern, even a pelican flying towards the shore, the frigate quickly descends and attacks the lucky fisherman. Pushes him, beats with wings and a strong beak. A frightened, beaten bird will regurgitate everything it has eaten, and a frigate deftly grabs the dinner it has regurgitated. birds of prey and pelicans are attacked by two and three. One frigate holds by the tail, others accurately hit the front of the head with their beaks and tear the wings. For such deeds they were called frigates. On frigates, high-speed sailing ships, filibusters, corsairs and other pirates and sea robbers used to plow the seas.

Robbery is in the blood of frigates. Adults rob neighbors: steal branches and eggs from nests, devour chicks. Young, barely fledged, also do this. And as soon as they learn to fly, the desire to rob on the big sea roads immediately awakens in them. First, they rush to cut across any bird, only then, gaining experience, they attack those who, willy-nilly, feed them a hearty meal.

The males of all frigatebirds, and there are five of them, are black, the throat and goiter are not feathered: the skin here is bright red. Lekking on bushes and trees at the places chosen for nests, frigatebirds inflate their throats with a huge bubble. All the trees are dotted with large red fruits. Females are larger than males, usually brown, light-breasted. Chicks are white-headed, in one species - red-headed. Frigates break branches for nests on the fly, fish them out of the sea or steal from other people's nests. Each pair has only one chick. He lives on parental dependency for a long time: he sits in the nest for 4-5 months, not really feathered. Then for another week, a month or more, the parents feed him, although their long-winged baby already flies well.

Young frigates gather in companies and frolic in the sky. They play high above the sea, tossing, releasing and grabbing various feathers and algae in virtuoso throws. They train to hunt flying fish, young storm petrels. Frigates kill them on water, on land and in the air. They practice attack techniques on cormorants and gannets overloaded with fish.

With its impressive size (about a meter and a little more), the frigate has a small weight, on average - 1.5 kg. Females are slightly larger than males. The plumage of the bird is black, on the back with a green tint, the chest is white. In males, the throat pouch is normally brownish in color. Frigatebirds have good eyesight. The frigate has a small head, but a long beak with a hook at the end is a good help for getting food. Birds Frigatebirds mainly feed on flying fish that jump out of the water. But try it, catch such a fish on the fly. The handsome frigate masterfully copes with such a hunt - this is already a skill. The frigatebird can also eat a jellyfish by dipping its beak into the water. But still, this bird does not have diversity in hunting, and therefore it is engaged in robbery, because you always want to eat. Frigatebirds swoop in, push, prevent other birds from flying (gulls, pelicans, boobies), they can even pinch them by the tail and paws. This is how the frigate hooligans until another bird drops or burps its prey. They eat chicks and eggs.

Frigate males are the first to arrive at nesting sites on uninhabited rocky islands. It inflates its throat pouch which turns dark red, snaps its beak and even tries to sing. The latter, however, is not very good at it. Fastidious females look for a partner in the size of the throat bag: the larger it is, the better. Having found a suitable groom, she rubs against his throat bag, and from that moment you can start building a nest. Frigatebirds build a nest of branches, which is not very stable for them. By the way, they can steal building material from each other. Here are the bastards! The female lays one egg, on which both parents will sit in turn. With a clumsy change of each other, an egg may fall out of an unstable nest. After 7 weeks, a naked frigate chick will be born. Caring parents look after and feed their baby. Six months later, the chick fledges, then leaves the nest. But his caring mother will feed her chick for another four months. With such long-term care for offspring, females lay one egg once a year. Chicks are vulnerable, if they fall out of the nest, they will die. Also, small, but already fledged frigates can be eaten by their own relatives.

Great frigate female. Photo: Duncan

Great frigate male. Photo: Duncan

The great frigatebird is one of the few seabird species that exhibits sexual dimorphism in size and plumage. Males are somewhat smaller than females, and have a black feather covering all over the body, which casts a greenish-purple sheen on the back.
In addition, there is a skin bag on the chest of the male, which during the mating season swells to an unimaginable size and turns bright red. This accessory serves the sole purpose of attracting a partner. The upper body of the female frigatebird is also covered with black feathers, and the chest and belly are white. Juveniles are similar in plumage color to females, only their top is not black, but brown.

For frisky games, they love frigates on the islands of Polynesia, tame, teach various tricks. They drink from the mouth, fed with selected fish. Frigate racing is a favorite popular pastime in the Pacific Islands. Children here learn how to train frigatebirds by training dragonflies. Frigates are very attached to the islands on which they were born, they do not fly far into the sea. They make good letter carriers: in Polynesia they are trained like carrier pigeons.