Sunday, March 4, 2007

Mr. "I'm looking for a mate" Frigate

Todays Galapagos post is of the male Frigate bird. From the pelecaninformes website: "Male frigate birds are black with a patch of red skin at the throat that is the gular sac. During courtship display, the male forces air into the sac, causing it to inflate over a period of 20 minutes into a startling red balloon. As males tend to display in groups, the effect is magnified. Then the males sit quietly in the low shrubs watching for a female to fly overhead. At this, the males waggle their heads from side to side, shake their wings and call. If the display is attractive enough, then the female will land and sit beside her amour."

4 comments:

isa said...

Amazing! And who knew that the human male has so much in common with a male Frigate ;-)

Anonymous said...

Isabella's comment made me laugh! That is an awesome bird. Just how big is he?

Chuck n Ruby said...

I would think "Mr. Frigate" would be all worn out by the time Ms.Frigate walks by. I love Isabella's comment.:):):)

Victoria said...

A frigate bird, neat! Those absolutely fascinate me...