Photos and Videos for Magnificent Frigatebird, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Adult male

An all dark, long-winged, fork-tailed bird of tropical oceans. Note also the long bill with hooked tip.

Adult female

Soars effortlessly on its long wings using its deeply forked tail to steer. Females have a dark head and white breast patch.

Adult male

Soars across tropical oceans with the occasional slow beat of its wings.

Immature male (stage 4)

An all dark fork-tailed bird of tropical oceans. Soars effortlessly on its long wings, which have a pronounced bend. Males have a bare patch of red skin on the throat (gular sac), barely visible outside the breeding season.

Immature female (Stage 3)

Spends most of its time in the air, gliding for hours with little to no wing movements. Immature females have a white head and belly.

Adult female

Flies on large angular wings with long tail trialing behind. The tail is deeply forked, but is often held closed.

Juvenile

Juveniles have a white head and belly.

Juvenile (stage 1)

Juveniles have a white head and belly.

Adult female

Unlike other seabirds, they lack waterproof feathers and cannot easily take flight from the ground. They typically take flight from an elevated perch that faces into the wind.

Adult male

Male's gular sac becomes bright red and is inflated like a large balloon during courtship displays and early incubation period, but becomes pale orange and shrinks to become barely visible at other times of the year.

Adult male

Males gather in groups to court females, perching in low trees and shrubs with their red throat sac inflated like a balloon. Male Magnificent Frigatebirds gather in groups to court females. They perch in low trees and shrubs with their red throat sac inflated like a balloon and clatter their bills, waving their heads back and forth, and calling at females flying overhead.