Description

• The frigate bird has iridescent black feathers, a long, hooked bill and a long, forked tail. Its long, narrow wings may spread more than 6 feet. The male inflates a bright red throat pouch to attract a mate.
  
  

Habitat

• Frigate birds can be found living along tropical ocean coasts, and also hundreds of miles out on the water. Clumsy on land and water, they are fast and skillful fliers and spend almost all of their time in the air.
  
  

Feeding Habits

• Frigate birds hover over the ocean's surface to dive for squid, fish, jellyfish and other invertebrates. They also sometimes eat the young of other sea birds.
  
  

Aggressive Behavior

• Frigate birds will swoop down on other birds, forcing them to drop recently caught prey so they can take it for themselves. They even force other birds to relinquish scarce nesting materials, a behavior scientists call kleptoparasitism.
  
  

Young

• The frigate bird nests in trees or on rocky ledges. Both sexes share in incubation and care of the chicks, which are dependent on their parents for about a year.