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Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor) Alternate name(s): "Greater Frigate-bird", "Man-o'-war Bird*", "Man-o'-war Hawk*", "Seahawk*"; "Sky Pirate*" Size: 85-105 cm; wing span 2.05-2.3 m Weight: 1.0-1.45 kg (male), 1.2-1.6 kg (female) Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.25 (male), 0.22 (female)

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Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Great Frigatebirds are large seabirds with dimorphic plumage. Male Great Frigatebirds are predominantly black, with a grey bill and eye ring and pink feet. They have a scarlet throat sac which, when not inflated, shows as a red spot on the throat. Females are black and white. They have a white breast and belly. The legs and feet are pink. The colour of the bill and eye-ring depends on race. The bill of a Great Frigatebird islight-grey, narrow and extremely hooked. Immature have grey mottling on breast and throat; otherwise they resemble female Great Frigatebirds. Juveniles have a buff head and a black breast band. Twitcher's tip Compared to Lesser Frigatebirds, Great Frigatebirds do not have any white markings on their inner wings.

Taxonomy, classification See Great Frigatebird at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Great Frigatebird is available HERE . Great Frigatebirds populate parts of the tropical and subtropical oceans. The five races combined have a range extending from the tropical African East coast and Madagascar across the Indian Ocean, via the South-east Asian islands (including Indonesia and New Guinea) and the South China Sea through to the Pacific Ocean. There they can be found from the Australian East coast to California in the USA and farther South, to about -30 degrees latitude. There is a separate population in the South Atlantic Ocean, to the East of Brazil. Along the Australian continental coast they can occasionally be found anywhere from the Top End of the NT in the West to Fraser Island, QLD, in the East. Strays are found only rarely farther South along the Australian East coast, to about the NSW Central Coast. Great Frigatebirds spend most of the non-breeding season on the seas around their breeding colonies, which are located on oceanic islands. They will enter continental coastal waters only infrequently.

Sightings Click here for sighting information M. Mearns reports seeing Great Frigatebirds at Lady Elliot Island, off the coast of QLD near Agnes Water, in January 2006 and again in January 2016. H. Mouritsen reports spotting a Great Frigatebird on One Tree Island, Capricornia Cays NP, near Rockhampton, QLD, in January 2011. M. Eaton reports finding a Great Frigatebird at Chili Beach, Cape York peninsula, QLD, in August 2019. Another was spotted at Michaelmas Cay, QLD, in October 2024.

Photos

Race "minor" or "palmerstoni"?

ADULT

MALE

Near-frontal view of a male Great Frigatebird; note the feathers on the side of the gular sac (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Near-frontal view of a male Great Frigatebird (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Lateral view of a male Great Frigatebird; note the feathers on the side of the gular sac (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

FEMALE

Near-lateral view of a female Great Frigatebird looking towards the observer - note the blue orbital ring
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Lateral view of a female Great Frigatebird looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Lateral view of a female Great Frigatebird surrounded by Black Noddies (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Lateral view of a female Great Frigatebird; below a Black Noddy (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Close-up near-frontal view of a female Great Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Near-frontal view of a female Great Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Lateral/ventral view of a female Great Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[One Tree Island, Capricornia Cays NP, QLD, January 2011]

Near-dorsal view of a female Great Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a female Great Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Close-up near-dorsal/ventral view of a female Great Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

Ventral view of a female Great Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Michaelmas Cay, QLD, October 2024]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of an immature female Great Frigatebird (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Near-frontal view of an immature female Great Frigatebird perched in a tree; the white breast characterises this bird as a female, while the bluish eye-ring indicates an immature bird (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, QLD, January 2006]

Lateral view of an immature female Great Frigatebird (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Lateral view of an immature female Great Frigatebird (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Female Great Frigatebird, centre, and two immature males, left and right, in flight (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Nomadic/dispersive

Elementary unit: Solitary

While nesting colonially, Great Frigatebirds do defend a small territory around their nest. They also fight over perches and steal nest material from others. Their aerobatic skills are superb; frigatebirds have the largest wing surface area to body weight ratio in the bird world.

Great Frigatebirds are kleptoparasitic, i.e., they steal food from other birds (not only by snatching prey from other birds' bills but by harassing them until they regurgitate their last meal). Otherwise, they catch flying fish or grab squid from the surface of the ocean. That way, they avoid having to dive to catch prey. This is astonishing because, although Great Frigatebirds spend many months each year out at sea, their feathers are not waterproof!

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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