Christmas Island Frigatebird
Fregata andrewsi
One of the largest of the frigatebirds; females are larger than males. Adults are easier to separate from similar frigatebirds than younger birds. Adult males are all black with a white oval belly patch and white spurs emanating outwards from the body onto the wing. Adult females have a black throat with a white hind collar, breast, and belly. The white spurs on the wing are angled forwards. Juvenile and immature plumages are variable and are best separated from other frigatebirds by size when comparison is possible. Breeding restricted to Christmas Island and usually silent unless breeding. Stragglers appear far away from the breeding colony in parts of Indian and Eastern Pacific Oceans.
Identification
The Christmas frigatebird measures 89–100 cm (35–39 in) in length, has a wingspan of 205–230 cm (81–91 in) and weighs around 1,550 g (3.42 lb). The adult male of this species is easily identified, since he is all black except for a white belly patch. Other plumages resemble those of the smaller lesser frigatebird, but have whiter bellies and longer white underwing spurs.
Taxonomy
The Christmas frigatebird was once considered to belong to the species Fregata aquila but in 1914 the Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews proposed that the Christmas frigatebird should be considered as a separate species with the binomial name Fregata andrewsi in honour of the English paleontogist Charles Andrews. Of the four other species within the genus Fregata, genetic analysis has shown that the Christmas frigatebird is most closely related to the great frigatebird.
- Scientific name
- Fregata andrewsi
- Authority
- Mathews, 1914
- Order
- Suliformes
- Family
- Fregatidae
- Genus
- Fregata
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- IO : Christmas I. (s of w Java)
- Non-breeding range
- Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand across Sunda Shelf to South China Sea and Sulu Sea (sw Philippines)
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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