Male: General plumage black with inflatible scarlet throat-sac. Light brown bar on shoulder. Bill, black. Eye, brown. Eye-ring, black. Feet, black or red-brown.
Female: General plumage black. Throat, greyish. Breast, white grading to grey on throat. Bill, blue-grey. Eye, brown. Eye-ring, red. Feet, pink to white.
Immatures: Above, blackish-brown with light brown shoulder bar. Head and underparts mainly white with varying amounts of rufous, yellow and brown.
Downy Young: Naked at first, then greyish-white downed. Bill, grey-white. Feet, grey-white.
Other Names (World)
Great Frigatebird, Greater Frigatebird, Pacific Frigatebird, Lesser Frigatebird, Man-o-War Bird, Man-o-War Hawk, Sea Hawk
American Samoa (B) (NB), Australia, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China (mainland), Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands (B), Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam (NB), India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands (B), Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia [Federated States of] (B) (NB), Mozambique, Nauru (NB), New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands (B), Palau (B), Philippines, Réunion (B), Russia (Asian), Seychelles (B), Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB), United States Minor Outlying Islands (NB), USA (B), Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna Islands.
Vagrant to Mauritius, New Zealand, Oman, Singapore, Zimbabwe.
Widespread in tropical Atlantic, Indain and Pacific Oceans. Breeds at several islands in the Coral Sea.
Population
Estimated population is 340,000 - 1,000,000 (2010).
Food
Young turtles, fish, cuttle-fish. Feeding is usually from the surface of the water but will often steal prey from other birds.
Voice
Male on nest warbles ‘wah-ho-ho-ho-ho’ and clappers a snore-like ‘torr’. When landing at nest male makes a repetitive yelp ‘tjew-tjew-tjew’, with individual variations.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet