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Lesser Frigatebird (Fregata ariel) Alternate name(s): "Least Frigatebird", "Man-o'-war Hawk*", "Seahawk*"; "Sky Pirate*" Size: 65-80 cm; wing span 1.55-1.9 m Body mass: 625-875 g (male), 760-955 g (female) Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.25-0.38

Australia: Family Group 4 Family Group 4 Table Australian Pelican Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird Great Frigatebird Lesser Frigatebird Australasian Gannet Masked Booby Red-footed Booby Brown Booby Darter Great Cormorant Little Black Cormorant Little Pied Cormorant Pied Cormorant Black-faced Cormorant Imperial Shag Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Lesser Frigatebirds are relatively large seabirds with dimorphic plumage. Male Lesser 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. Female Lesser Frigatebirds are black and white. They have a white breast and belly. The legs are pinkish. The colour of the bill and eye ring depends on race. The bill of both sexes of Lesser Frigatebird is narrow and extremely hooked. Immature Lesser Frigatebirds have a whiteish head. Otherwise they resemble females. Juveniles have a buff head and a black breast band. Twitcher's tip Compared to Great Frigatebirds, Lesser Frigatebirds have white markings on the inner wings (males on the upperwings, females on the underwings).

Taxonomy, classification See Lesser 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 Lesser Frigatebird is available HERE . Lesser Frigatebirds occur in tropical and subtropical oceans, from West Africa, across the Indian Ocean (including the tip of the Indian subcontinent), the islands of far-eastern Asia (including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and smaller islands), the western Pacific Ocean up to about Hawaii and parts of the Atlantic coast of Brazil. In Australian coastal waters, they can be found from about Brisbane, QLD (in some cases also the NSW Far North Coast), across the northern end of the continent, to about Exmouth, WA (in some cases to about Perth). They are also found on all Australian offshore islands within that range. They are not found anywhere inland. Lesser Frigatebirds breed on tropical and subtropical islands and spend the rest of their lives above coastal waters and the open seas.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "ariel" H. Mouritsen reports spotting a Lesser Frigatebird, race "ariel", at One Tree Island, Capricornia Cays NP, near Rockhampton, QLD, in January 2011. D. Williams and M. Roderick report spotting a Lesser Frigatebird, race "ariel", at Newcastle Harbour, NSW, in January 2015. J. Greaves reports spotting a Lesser Frigatebird, race "ariel", at Cable Beach, Broome, WA, in April 2015. B. Hensen reports finding a Lesser Frigatebird, race "ariel", at Fogg Dam CR, NT, in January 2016. M. Eaton reports spotting a Lesser Frigatebird, race "ariel", at the tip of Cape York peninsula, QLD, in August 2019.

Photos

Race "ariel"

ADULT

MALE

Lesser Frigatebirds in various plumages: male (top; in-flight), female (centre, in-flight; lower right, perched) and juvenile with tawny-coloured head, in-flight (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Near-lateral view of a male Lesser Frigatebird in flight; note the red throat pouch ["gular sac"] (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Fogg Dam CR, NT, January 2016]

Lateral view of a male Lesser Frigatebird in flight; note the characteristic grey bill of the male (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Fogg Dam CR, NT, January 2016]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Lesser Frigatebird, upper left, with another female partly obscured on the right, and a partly obscured male, lower left; for comparison, there is a Brown Booby in the lower left-hand corner (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

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

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

Frontal view of a female Lesser Frigatebird in flight; note the characteristic red eye-ring (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2006]

Lateral view of a female Lesser Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of D. Williams)
[Newcastle Harbour, NSW, January 2015]

Ventral view of a female Lesser Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of D. Williams)
[Newcastle Harbour, NSW, January 2015]

Near-dorsal view of a female Lesser Frigatebird in flight (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[One Tree Island, Capricornia Cays NP, QLD, January 2011]

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

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of an immature, probably third-year Lesser Frigatebird; note the whiteish head and the absence of a black neck band (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lady Elliot Island, near Agnes Water, QLD, January 2016]

Behaviour

While nesting colonially, Lesser 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.

Lesser 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 Lesser Frigatebirds spend many months each year out at sea, their feathers are not fully 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.