Saturday, December 27, 2008

Magnificent Frigatebird

Today on Fort Myers Beach, I spotted this Magnificent Frigatebird soaring overhead. Luckily, I was able to get to my camera before he flew away. It is rare to see Frigatebirds this time of year - unless they have been driven ashore by a storm. They spend most of their time flying over the ocean.

Frigatebirds are one of the few birds where males and females look entirely different. The males are entirely black with a red throat pouch and the larger females are black with a large white patch across their chest, three or four thin white lines in the wingpits, and white patches on top of wings.

We stayed on the beach until sunset so I got a few more pictures. Bill took the first one with the sailboat and I took the second one.

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