Male: Glossy black with inflatible scarlet throat-sac. Lower abdomen, white, in shield-shaped patch which does not extend to underwing. Upper wing-coverts, brown. Bill, grey. Eye-ring, black. Feet, dull pink.
Female: Throat, greyish. Breast, white, formally a partial rear collar and extending to lower belly and in 'spurs' onto black underwing near body. Abdomen, black. Bill, dull pink. Eye-ring, red.
Immatures: Belly, white. Breast, black and white 'scaled' breast.
Other Names (World)
Christmas Frigatebird, Christmas Island Frigatebird, Andrew's Frigatebird
Derivation
Frë-ga’-ta - N.L., from Fr. fregate, frigate: andrewsi, after C.W. Andrews, FRS (1866 - 1924), of the Geological Department, British Museum, who visited and collected on Christmas Island in 1897 and 1908
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia (NB), China (mainland), Christmas Island (B), Eastern Indian Ocean (B) (NB), Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore (NB), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Western Central Pacific (NB).
Vagrant to Australia, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, India, Japan, Vietnam.
Christmas Island. Ranges throughout tropical Indian Ocean to coasts of India, south-east Asia to Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Phillipines.
Population
Estimated population is 2,400 - 4,800 (2010) and decreasing.
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
BirdLife International Species Factsheet