The Magnificent Frigate

The Magnificent Frigate

I’m not a serious “birder” yet I do like watching them over the water. Here in New England the biggest and wildest of the bunch has to be the Northern Gannet. Totally amazing. And their presence marks the arrival of Atlantic Sea herring and one of your best shots at a monster striped bass. That said, in the seven years I spent on the Florida’s Gulf Coast, I saw more birds and more variety than I had ever seen in New England. And the biggest and craziest of those winged critters has to be the Magnificent Frigate.

Honestly, I didn’t know anything about them until one day out on the flats I happened to peer skyward. Hanging high above me on boomerang shaped wings, was the largest bird I had ever seen, remaining effortless aloft. Enormous, huge. With only a wide-angle lens with me, I grab a shot to study later.

Back at home I searched through my copy of  Peter Harrison’s excellent book Seabirds. It didn’t take long to narrow it down to the Magnificent Frigate. Harrison reports the Magnificent Frigate has a wing span of up to 8 feet, and can neither walk or swim, resting only in trees. That got me digging for more online. Turns out Frigates eat, mate, and sleep on the wing – sometimes staying airborne at sea for months at a time. Incredible. About 6 months later I heard there was a Frigate rookery near me in Pine Island Sound between Pine Island and Captiva. I launched their several times hoping to see it.

 

 

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