Great Frigatebird

How to identify

Field marks

1. Wings long, narrow and pointed, tail long and deeply forked
2. Male black, with a green sheen on the scapulars
3. Female throat and breast white, eye-ring red
4. Male gular pouch red and inflated in the breeding season

Male, female and young

Female larger than male, with a white throat and breast; juvenile black, with rusty-tinged white on the face, head and throat.

Where and when it's recorded

Great Frigatebird has been recorded at 208 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 39 countries and regions.

Records by month Southern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Midway Atoll – Water Catchment AreaU.S. Outlying Islands806 records
2. Midway Atoll NWR – Sand IslandU.S. Outlying Islands501 records
3. Española – Punta SuárezEcuador476 records

Countries and regions with the most records

U.S. Outlying IslandsChristmas IslandEcuadorSeychellesFrench PolynesiaNorfolk IslandPitcairn IslandsCocos (Keeling) Islands

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The great frigatebird (Fregata minor) is a large seabird in the frigatebird family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific Ocean, such as Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands; in the Indian Ocean, colonies can be found in the Seychelles (on Aldabra and Aride Islands) and Mauritius, and there is a tiny population in the South Atlantic, mostly on and around St. Helena and Boatswain Bird Island (Ascension Island).

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions