A genus of Oropteridae, with a body length of 75 ~ 112 mm; The wings are long and strong, and the wings spread 176 ~ 23 mm; The mouth is long and sharp, and the end is bent into a hook; The tail is deeply forked; The body feathers are mainly dark brown with red throat sac; Short and weak feet, almost webbed; Females are generally larger than males. Distributed in South Pacific, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean.
The whole body feathers of frigate birds are black with blue and green luster, and the throat sac and toes are bright red. The female bird's lower neck and chest are white, and her feathers lack luster. The frigate bird has developed chest muscles and is good at flying, and is known as the "flying champion". Its wings spread out for 2-5 meters, and its flying speed can reach about 4 kilometers per hour when it preys, making it the fastest bird in the world. It can not only fly to a height of about 12 meters, but also fly to a place more than 16 kilometers away from the nest, and the farthest distance can reach about 4 kilometers. Someone once saw a frigate bird flying and landing safely from the air in the face of a 12-level gale.
frigate birds generally inhabit the forests along the coast and mainly feed on fish, mollusks and jellyfish. It often roams the sea during the day, watching the food in the water. Once the fish appeared on the sea surface, it quickly descended from the sky and captured the prey in the water accurately. Interestingly, frigate birds are often too lazy to catch food by themselves, but rely on their superb flying skills to rob other seabirds of their catches. If it sees the neighbor red-footed boobies coming back from fishing, it will suddenly launch an air raid on them, forcing the red-footed boobies to release the fish and shrimp in the air port, and then dive quickly to grab the falling fish and shrimp and take it for themselves. Because of the "robbery" behavior of warship bird, people call it "robber bird".
frigate birds never live on land, but they are also scavengers and common carnivores, and often catch small turtles and other birds. They are also very hygienic. Every time they finish eating, they will land on the sea to clean up. During the breeding period of the male frigate bird, its throat sac will turn bright crimson and swell up. After the female lays an egg, the male's throat sac slowly deflates and turns dark red. Male and female birds nest together, and the female bird is responsible for collecting most twigs, while the male bird spreads the twigs into a platform. The male bird is not only busy looking for food, but also incubating eggs for about 2 days instead of his wife. After about forty-five days of incubation, the chicks finally hatched. They are naked, their eyes are closed, and they can only peck food from their parents' mouths to satisfy their hunger. After six months, the little frigate birds can spread their wings and fly, but they have to rely on their parents to feed them for a while, and they can only live alone after one year old.
They mainly feed on flying fish and plunder the catch of other seabirds. Warship birds mostly nest in bushes or trees, which is close to the nesting area of other birds (terns and boobies). During the breeding period, the laryngeal sac is particularly developed. When courting, the male tries to inflate the red laryngeal sac, sway his body, flap his wings and show off to the female. Only one egg is laid in each nest. Egg white, weighing 72 ~ 9g. Incubation period is 45 ~ 5 days. The chicks are late bloomers. The chicks are naked. Stay in the nest for 4 ~ 5 months and be fed by both parents.
There are three species in China: small frigate birds, which are all black in adults and have brown spots on their wings. In summer, it spreads all over Guangdong, Fujian coastal areas and Xisha Islands. The white-bellied frigate bird is similar in size to the small frigate bird. Most of the male adult birds have black plumage, but their bellies are white. Female throat is black and abdomen is white. It is a wandering bird and occasionally breeds in coastal islands of Guangdong. White-spotted warship bird, the male adult bird has black upper body, blue luster on the head and back, light brown feather surface on the lower body, and one white spot on each side of the front abdomen. The female bird's body feathers are generally black, the throat and front neck are gray, the back has a light purple luster, the back neck has a chestnut collar, the wings are covered with brown patches, and the chest and chest side are yellowish and white.
The frigate bird has black feathers with blue and green luster, and its throat sac and toes are bright red. The male bird has a white neck and chest, and its feathers lack luster. It is a large tropical seabird, mainly living in the tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and also distributed in Guangdong, Fujian coastal areas, Xisha and Nansha Islands.
The frigate bird is the fastest bird in the world. It has developed pectoral muscles and is good at flying. It is known as the "flying champion". When it spreads its wings with a length of 2-5 meters, it can fly at a speed of about 4 kilometers per hour. It can not only fly to a height of 1,2 meters, but also fly to a distance of more than 1,6 kilometers away from its nest, with a maximum distance of about 4, kilometers.
The red airbag of frigate birds is used to attract the opposite sex, and the brighter the airbag, the more attractive it is.
frigate birds are tropical seabirds, which are distributed in tropical and subtropical oceans all over the world, and sometimes enter temperate waters. Warship birds have extremely long wings, wingspan more than 2 meters, forked tail and strong flying ability. They often rob other seabirds of food in the air, and their English name is Pirate Bird. The male frigate bird has a bright red throat sac, which inflates like a ball when courting. There are 5 species of frigate birds, 3 of which can be found in China. Fragata minor (right) is the most widely distributed frigate bird, which breeds in many parts of the whole tropical ocean, roams in the whole tropical and subtropical ocean, and can enter temperate regions. It breeds near Hainan Island and many islands in the South China Sea, and patronizes the coastline more often than other pirate birds. The little frigate bird is translated from Latin, but it is not small in size. Its English name means big frigate bird. The real frigate bird F.aquila does not appear in China, but breeds on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean and roams in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. White-bellied frigate bird F.andrewai is the most precious species of frigate birds. It breeds on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, roams in the tropical East Indian Ocean and sometimes enters the South China Sea. It is a first-class protected animal in China.