Galapagos – Birds – Frigate Birds – Travelogue 1
The air pirates par excellence are the banded and magnificent frigate birds native to San Cristóbal, Seymour, Isabela, Genovesa and other islands. Their specialty is to snatch prey from other seabirds during flight. The body weight of the frigate birds is not even three pounds. One would think that they would spend a lot of time on the surface of the water.
However, as a precaution, they almost never land on the water, as their plumage, unlike all other seabirds, is not water-repellent and becomes clumsy when wet. The status symbols of each frigate bird male include a grappling hook-like beak and a magnificent scarlet throat sac. Full of pride, they inflate it to the size of a balloon during courtship in order to deeply impress some female. The breeding sites are spread over wide areas.
On the left a frigate bird in full “regalia” and on the right in “normal condition”. Even during their notorious raids, the throat sac can often be seen circling over the ocean like a kind of war paint, slightly inflated.
The impressive wingspan of the frigate birds is over two meters.
Pictures Galapagos – Birds – Frigate Birds
