Why frigates need a red bag. Frigate magnificent

And cormorants, they are separated into a separate family of frigates (Fregatidae) and live in tropical and subtropical regions. Five species of birds belong to this genus.

All frigatebirds have narrow wings, and a long and forked tail, resembling the English letter W. Such adaptations are necessary for the bird to maneuver in flight. Frigates fly very skillfully, but on the ground they do not feel so confident, since their legs are short. The wings of a bird are used to maintain balance when perched on trees. The largest species magnificent frigate, about 110 cm long, its wingspan reaches 230 cm. The weight of the bird is up to 1.5 kg. On average, the sizes of frigates are slightly smaller. For these birds, unlike many others marine life characterized by sexual dimorphism. The back of both females and males is black with a green or blue tint, in young birds it is brown. Males are distinguished by bright red inflatable throat pouches, which reach 25 cm in diameter. Females have a white throat.

The diet of frigatebirds is very diverse and includes fish, squid, crustaceans, and mollusks. But these birds do not like to hunt on their own. They prefer to soar in the air and look out for other birds that return from the sea with prey (petrels, phaetons, boobies, pelicans) and attack them. Seeing a bird with prey, the frigate catches up with it and beats it with its beak and wings until it burps what it has eaten. In turn, the frigate immediately picks up someone else's delicacy, eats it up and flies away. Large pelicans are attacked by several large frigates. For this behavior, frigates were even nicknamed feathered pirates. Moreover, frigatebirds can attack colonies of other birds, destroy nests and eat chicks. In addition to the food that frigatebirds take from other bird species, they can also catch prey on their own, while jellyfish, mollusks, crustaceans and carrion become prey for frigatebirds. Birds collect such food in flight from the surface of the water.

bird spread

Most species of frigatebirds are distributed in tropical waters: from 25 degrees north latitude to 25 degrees south latitude. Frigate nesting colonies are located on the islands of the Pacific Ocean, the western regions of the Atlantic Ocean and in the south of the Indian Ocean.

Common types of frigate

The habitat of the species is the tropical islands of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. The body length of the bird is from 85 to 105 cm, the wingspan reaches 230 cm. The large frigatebird nests in colonies on oceanic islands, and spends the rest of the year above the sea. Before the mating season, a large leathery bag of bright red color appears on the throat of males. To attract a female, males inflate it and make characteristic sounds.

The bird is large in size, body length up to 102 cm, wingspan from 217 to 229 cm. The mass of an adult bird is 1.1-1.6 kg. The tail is long, forked. The wings are narrow and long, in flight they look like the letter W. The color of the plumage is black with a sheen, the females have a white stripe on the belly. Males have a red throat pouch that swells during the mating season. The legs are short, with strong claws and webbing between the toes. In young birds, the head and belly are white, and the back is brown-black with light brown streaks. Adult color appears at 4-6 years of age. The magnificent frigatebird is distributed along the Pacific coast of Central and South America from Baja California to Ecuador, in the Galapagos Islands. Birds also live near the Atlantic coast of South America from Florida to southern Brazil.

This species is endemic to the small island of Boatswain, which is located near Ascension Island in the south Atlantic Ocean. The body length of the bird is from 89 to 96 cm. The wingspan reaches 200 cm. The tail is long, forked. The plumage of an adult male is black. A green tint is expressed on the head. The throat sac in males is light red in color, and strongly swells during mating. The female is painted dark brown with a red collar and breast. Young birds outwardly resemble females, but differ from them in the white color of the head.

Christmas frigatebird (Fregata andrewsi)

A large bird with a body length of 90 to 100 cm. The wingspan is 205 - 230 cm, the weight of the bird is about 1.5 kg. The color of the plumage is brownish-black. The wings are long, the tail is long and forked. The males have an oval white patch on their belly, and the throat pouch is painted bright scarlet to attract the female. Females are larger in size than males, and are distinguished by white plumage on the breast and abdomen. The Christmas frigatebird is endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

The species is distributed in the tropical waters of the Indian and Atlantic oceans. Sometimes found on Far East. The body length of the bird is from 71 to 81 cm, the wingspan is 175-195 cm. The weight of males is in the range of 625-875 g, in females it is slightly larger - from 750 to 950 g. The plumage color of the male is black with green, blue or purple low tide. The upper part of the breast in females is white. For the frigate Ariel, three similar subspecies are distinguished, which have different wingspan and beak length, as well as habitat:

Fregata ariel ariel, distributed in the central and eastern waters of the Indian Ocean, in the west and in the center of the Pacific Ocean.
Fregata ariel iredalei, an inhabitant of the western waters of the Indian Ocean.
Fregata ariel trinaitatis, lives in the South Atlantic Ocean, breeds exclusively on the island of Trindade.

Great frigatebird - one of the few species sea birds, which are characterized by sexual dimorphism in plumage color and size. Males are usually slightly smaller in size than females, their plumage is black all over the body, on the back it casts a sheen of greenish-purple. In addition, the male is easily distinguished by the skin pouch located in the throat area, which swells very strongly during the display and becomes bright red. Such a special decoration is necessary for the male in order to attract females. In females, the back, like in males, is black, and the plumage in the chest and tummy is white. Young birds resemble females in plumage color, but their back is painted brown.

Frigatebirds are monogamous birds that nest once every two or three years on sparsely populated islands and along the desert coasts of the continents. Since predators do not live on such islands, frigatebirds are not afraid to build their nests in bushes or trees at a low height from the ground. Frigatebirds nest both in fairly large colonies (for example, there are about a thousand nests on Laysan Island), and in very small ones - up to 15 pairs. Often frigatebirds arrange nesting with gannets in order to subsequently take away food from them. The time of the mating season differs in different regions, which is usually associated with the availability of sufficient food at one time or another. Before the construction of the nest begins, mating games take place between the frigatebirds. Males are located on trees and bushes, inflate their bright skin bags located on the throat, while raising their heads up and spreading their wings. They also make characteristic singing sounds. For several days, females fly over this "orchestra" and choose a partner for themselves. Frigatebirds nest their nests in low trees or bushes, and sometimes right on the ground. The place must be protected from the wind and well heated by the sun. The frigate nest is like a platform that birds build from branches and other plant materials. In one clutch, the female always has one white egg, which is alternately incubated by both the male and the female. They change with each other every 3-18 days. Incubation lasts from 40 to 50 days, after which a chick is born, completely devoid of fluff, so an adult bird constantly warms it. At the age of 4 to 5 months, the plumage is already fully developed in young birds and they begin to fly, they differ from adults only in a white head. For another 7-8 months, the young frigate stays near the nest, eats the food that its parents bring to it, and enjoys their protection. Frigatebirds reach sexual maturity at the age of 5 to 7 years.

The English name of frigates - "man of war" (warship) - indicates the predatory habits of these birds. Adult frigatebirds meet gannets, pelicans, terns, gulls, cormorants and other birds that return from hunting and pursue them in order to select prey, for this they also beat the birds with their strong beaks and tails. As soon as the birds regurgitate the prey, the frigatebirds pick it up and fly away. Young frigatebirds that have learned to fly often peck at nestlings of their own species.
Frigates - national symbol the state of Nauru, local residents use these birds for fishing. Also, the Polynesians with the help of frigates transmit messages to each other, using them like carrier pigeons.
On the islands of Polynesia, frigatebirds are often tamed and trained in a variety of tricks. They are watered from the mouth and fattened with selected fish. One of the favorite folk entertainments in the Pacific Islands is the competition between frigates. Frigatebirds are usually very attached to the islands where they were born, and do not fly far out to sea from them.

Frigatebirds live in tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Enough large bird, with a large wingspan (2m), soars easily and beautifully over the water surface.

Birds can fly for a long time, looking for food for themselves, then deftly dive and catch it on the fly. They do not land on water for several reasons: 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, he cannot wet his feathers, because. they get wet quickly. The bird's wings 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. They prefer to sit and rest on tree branches. But still, these birds have an advantage, they fly beautifully, and in speed and maneuver when hunting, they have no equal.

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 is black, on the back with a green tint, the chest is white. In males, the throat pouch is normally brownish in color. The bird has good eyesight. The head is small, but the long beak with a hook at the end is a good help for getting food.

They feed mainly on those that jump out of the water. But try it, catch such a fish on the fly. Our handsome man masterfully copes with such a hunt - this is already a skill. He can also eat a jellyfish, lowering his beak into the water. All day frigates soar over the ocean, returning to the shore at night.

But still, this bird does not have diversity in hunting, and therefore it is engaged in robbery, because you always want to eat. They swoop in, push, prevent other birds (gulls, boobies) from flying, they can even pinch them by the tail and paws. This is how he misbehaves until another bird drops or burps his 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. They build a nest from branches, which they get is not very stable. By the way, they can steal from each other construction material. 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 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 devoured by their own relatives.

Types of frigates: Ariel's frigates

Frigate, bird Frigates 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 Detachment - Pelicans Family - Frigates Genus - Frigate There are no shorter-legged birds either: its tiny legs are shorter than those of a lark or starling, a little more than two centimeters in length. 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 his wings and 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, fast sailing ships, before filibusters, corsairs and other pirates and sea robbers plowed 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. Tokuya on bushes and trees at the places chosen for nests, frigatebirds inflate their throats 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 on the fly in virtuoso throws different feathers and algae. 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. 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 pouch on the male's chest, which during 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.

Yes, it's true, the frigate bird in its habits is very similar to the actions when they attacked the ships of merchants, taking away goods. Why does the frigate bird bear the name of the ship- here is a photo of her against the backdrop of a frigate, also compare grace, determination and a red bag around her throat, like a red scarf around a pirate's neck.

Frigate bird or ship, photo

The frigate bird has narrow wings and a long tail, forked like an airplane or glider. The frigate bird is magnificent, it flies over the sea surface for a long time. Justifying the name given to it by English pirates, the frigate attacks other seabirds returning from fishing, gannets, terns, beats them with its beak and picks up dropped prey, preventing it from falling into the water.

True, the frigate bird is a skilled hunter herself, she easily catches flying fish, and attack others water birds, and she is forced to take prey from them because of the characteristics of her body. Look at the photo of the frigate lower down, it has short legs and very long wings.

The largest species of the family of these birds, the magnificent frigatebird, reaches a body length, mainly due to a tail of 110 cm and a wingspan of up to 230 cm, while it weighs only 1.5 kg. - a wanderer of the seas. Frigatebirds, like albatrosses, are skilled flyers, they spend most of their time in the air above water bodies and soar without moving their wings for a long time.

Due to their long wings and tail, they are not able to swim, so they are simply forced to take prey from other sea birds and animals. Due to the length of their wings, they are also unable to take off from the water and are forced to land only in trees. Even flying over land, the frigate bird manages to in planning to snatch the chicks other birds from the nest, and even frigatebirds steal nest building materials from other people's nests.

On the ground, the frigate bird is clumsy due to short legs and a bright red inflatable sac on its throat. Sitting in trees, they use their wings to maintain balance. In male frigatebirds, these bags are bright red, up to 25 cm in diameter, in females the throat is white, there is no bag.

Frigatebirds from Christmas Island.

The frigate bird lives on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. Frigatebirds are relatives of pelicans and cormorants in structure and some habits. In addition to the "Christmas" island, the frigate bird can be found in the Seychelles, in the northeast of Australia, in Polynesia. The frigate bird is the national symbol of the state of Nauru, where they are used like our cormorants. Because of their attachment to the nest, the Polynesians still use the frigatebird to carry messages, just as we once used carrier pigeons.

By the way, nests at frigates are built only by males, on trees, and females choose their mate by the largest red bag on their throats. It is interesting that the frigates have only one egg in the clutch, the chicks, after being born, acquire full plumage only after five months, and the parents feed the chick for several more months, even after it learns to fly on its own.

And we inflated the bag to please the female frigate.

Frigate bird 8 photos.

Family Frigates / Fregatidae

The great frigatebird plumage is black with a brown tint on the underside of the body. The head and back feathers have a greenish-bronze metallic sheen. On the chin, throat and goiter, the skin is not feathered. At mating time, a strongly developed swelling of an intense red color is formed here. In females, this swelling is smaller and has a pale color. Males are slightly smaller than females. The wing length for males is 57-60 cm, for females - 60-62 cm. The large frigatebird is the most common bird of the family. It inhabits the islands of the tropical part of the Indian, Pacific

Frigate big

(very common on the islands of Lai-san and Midway) and the Atlantic (Trinidad Island) oceans.At their nesting habitats (Hawaiian Islands), these frigatebirds appear at the end of December and at first lead an inactive lifestyle. They either sit quietly on the bushes at this time, or soar high above the island. From the end of January, adult birds begin to carry branches for the nest, while often stealing building material from other birds. In February, egg laying begins (always one), which different birds occurs non-simultaneously, so that the nesting period extends until late summer. The chicks hatch after about 41 days of incubation, naked, later dressed in white down. In mid-June, young birds can be seen in the nests different ages. The death of chicks is great, as adult frigatebirds eat even fully feathered chicks from other people's nests. Already feathered young frigatebirds also rob nests and, sometimes, kidnap puffy terns and devour them up to 8-10 pieces a day. In the daytime, you can often see frigatebirds suddenly descending to a lake with fresh water and gaining a full beak of water. Frigatebirds resting after feeding on the bushes are very trusting and 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. Manro, a researcher of the fauna of the Hawaiian Islands, writes that he was able to collect flying fish regurgitated in this way in the colony of frigatebirds, which were completely undamaged and could be used for scientific collections.

Frigate small / Fregata ariel

A small frigate that, despite its name, is not inferior to a large frigate in wingspan, although it has a shorter body. In color, it is characterized by white spots on the sides of the body. It breeds on islands in the tropical zone of the Indian Ocean, in the west of the Pacific, in the Atlantic - on Trinidad and Martin-Vas Island.

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