Great Frigatebird, Midway Atoll.

A Great Frigate-bird (Fregata minor) stretches its wings whilst perched atop a bush on Eastern Island in the Midway Atoll group. The rust coloured head and chest feathers indicate that it’s a juvenile. Frigate-birds have the highest ratio of wing area to body mass, and the lowest wing loading of any bird, in other words they have huge wings but little body weight with the result that they are remarkable aerialists. In addition to hunting fish and squid on the ocean surface, they also indulge in Kleptoparasitism. Yep, that’s right, Kleptoparasitism! Consider that your word for the day! (a good one to remember next time you play scrabble ) It means they will steal food (in addition to nesting materials etc) from other species. It is not uncommon for frigate-birds to harass other birds in flight forcing them to regurgitate food which the frigate-birds will then steal.

Juvenile Great Frigate-bird stretching its wings, Midway Atoll.

Blog changes.

Apologies for being a little quiet over the Christmas-New Year period. Prior to Christmas I believe I blogged that I was wrestling with the “related posts” functionality of the site. Well I think I’ve got that one sorted, now if I can just get a blog search page that works properly! ~KD