ML276748661

Age and sex

Adult Female - 1

Behaviors

Flying

Observation details

Large seabird. Black overall except for white in the chest/throat. Bird had long forked tail. Long wings. Buffy markings on upper wings noted in flight and seen in photos. Long bill with slight hook at end of upper mandible. There appeared to be some anomaly with the lower mandible as it did not appear to extend as far as the upper mandible--it looked to be about half as long and somewhat bulbous at the base. See photos for better view of bill. Bird was being harassed by two eagles throughout the time I watched it. It would fly back into a perching area in the cove towards the sailing club and would disappear when it perched. Nearly every time the eagles flew around the corner into the cove, the Frigatebird would take off and start flying. Eventually the eagles harassed the Frigatebird and it flew directly east and made a fairly close pass around Rick's. The shape and distribution of the white patch on the chest rules out Lesser and Great Frigatebirds. Great would have a white neck and Lesser would have a color into the posterior neck/nape. Additionally there is usually a portion of black extending cranially/superiorly from the inferior border of the white patch on Lesser.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS R5

Lens

EF600mm f/4L IS III USM +2x III

ISO

1600

Focal length

1200 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/11.0

Shutter speed

1/1250 sec

Dimensions

2782 pixels x 1856 pixels

Original file size

1.86 MB