Great Frigatebird

Fascinating facts about the Great Frigatebird

• A male frigatebird can inflate a pouch beneath his throat to the size of a beach ball — a scarlet balloon that takes 20 minutes to fully inflate and signals he's ready to mate. No other bird has mastered this courtship trick. Females circle overhead for hours, scanning dozens of inflated males before choosing one.
• Frigatebirds almost never land on water, yet they hunt across the open ocean. Their feathers lack the oils that waterproof other seabirds, so if they crash-land in the sea, they drown. Instead they snatch fish and squid from the surface in mid-air, moving so fast their victims don't see them coming.
• A frigatebird's wingspan stretches 2.3 metres — the longest wing-to-body ratio of any bird alive. They weigh less than 1.5 kilograms, making them living kites that can hover and pivot in place like hummingbirds, then accelerate to 95 kilometres per hour in pursuit of prey.
• Male frigatebirds spend 6 months perfecting their display nest, arranging twigs and pebbles into an exact circle. But they never actually raise chicks — the female does all the work, alone, for up to 6 months. He vanishes after mating, leaving her to feed and protect their single chick until it fledges.
• Frigatebirds are pirates of the ocean, harassing other seabirds mid-flight until they drop or regurgitate their catch. A single frigatebird can steal fish from 10 different birds in one morning. This theft, called kleptoparasitism, is so efficient they spend less energy hunting this way than catching their own prey.

At a glance

About the Great Frigatebird

As the Great Frigatebird soars through the tropical skies, its sleek, ebony form cuts effortlessly across the horizon, its expansive wings beating in a slow, hypnotic rhythm that belies the fierce pirate of the air that it is. With a gaze as sharp as the hooked beak that snaps up unsuspecting prey, this master thief patrols the ocean's surface, ever vigilant for the next opportunity to plunder the hard-won catches of its fellow seabirds. In a dazzling display of aerial acrobatics, the Great Frigatebird will pursue its quarry with reckless abandon, its wings tucked tight as it dives and weaves through the turbulent air with a reckless precision that is both beautiful and terrifying to behold.

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