Great frigatebird

How it lives

Great frigatebirds nest in colonies on islands, in low trees and shrubs. A female lays one egg, and it hatches after about 55 days. The chick fledges after 4 to 6 months, and parents keep feeding it for another 150 to 428 days, the longest post-fledging care of any bird. Pairs breed only every two years or less often. Wikipedia gives breeding ages of 8 to 11 years, while other sources give younger ages. Banded birds have lived at least 37 years, and one study recaptured a bird at least 44 years old. Frigatebirds do not land on the sea. Their feathers have little oil and they cannot take off from water.

Where it goes

Great frigatebirds travel widely over tropical seas. In a 2016 study, 14 birds on ocean trips stayed away for up to 10 days, on average 5.76 days, and flew up to 3,000 km. They flew at about 137 m on average and sometimes climbed to about 900 m. Other tracked birds have flown 873 km between Hawaiian islands and 4,400 km from the Mozambique Channel to the Maldives. There is no single migration route.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

The species is pantropical, between about 25 degrees north and 25 degrees south, and is not found in the Caribbean. No global count is given in the sources I opened. Audubon notes declines since people settled many nesting islands. On Europa Island in the Mozambique Channel, 1,100 pairs bred in 2012. The South Atlantic subspecies, F. m. nicolli in Brazil, is Critically Endangered. There are five subspecies. IUCN assessed the species as Least Concern in 2020.