Christmas Island Frigatebrid

The white-bellied frigatebird is a large marine bird, nearly 1 meter long. The female is generally larger than the male. The blue-gray beak is very long, with the tip curved into a hook shape. There is a red throat sac in the throat, which can be used to temporarily store caught food. The wings are narrow, and the metacarpals and phalanges of the lower arm are particularly elongated. The wings can reach 2 meters when spread out. The tail feathers are deeply forked. The feet are also red. Unlike other water birds, although it has webbed feet between the toes, the webbed membrane has a deep gap between the toes. The feathers on the upper body are all black with a green luster, and the neck and chest are also shining with a purple luster, but the abdomen is white, which makes it easy to distinguish it from other frigatebirds.
Size measurements: body length ♂ 950 mm; bill ♂ 127-130 mm, ♀ 137-145 mm; wings ♂ 600-625 mm, ♀ 635-643 mm; tail ♂ 375-400 mm, ♀ 430-450 mm. (Note: males - ♂; fem

Distributed in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Christmas Island, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, East Timor.
Migrant bird: Australia, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, India, Japan, Vietnam.
Found in the waters around Malaysia and Indonesia. Occasionally seen in coastal islands of Guangdong in China. Mainly distributed in the Indian Ocean, breeding in Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Island. After the breeding season, it often wanders to the coast and islands of Guangdong in China in the north, the Strait of Malacca and Java in the south, and Australia.

The white-bellied frigatebird is also known as Christmas Island Frigatebrid. It is a tropical marine bird with no subspecies.

The white-bellied frigatebird flies extremely fast and agilely, but is not good at walking on land or swimming. It mainly feeds in the air. In addition to being able to chase flying fish, its predatory feeding habits are well-known. It can hover and patrol in the sky. Once it finds a bird or gull catching a fish in the water and flying with the fish in its mouth, it immediately dives and chases it, pecking the tail of the former fiercely to force it to open its mouth, and then uses its sensitive flying skills to peck the falling fish in the air. Seaweed and other things used for nesting are also taken from the mouths of birds and other birds in this way.

The white-bellied frigatebird flies over the sea during the day and roosts in the woods on the shore or islands at night. Its food is mainly mollusks such as fish and jellyfish in the sea. When hunting, it can fly close to the water surface and chase fish floating on the water or flying out of the water. Although it can hunt by itself, it often uses the method of robbing in the air to rob other birds, especially the fish caught by the red-footed booby. It first hovers in the sky for inspection. Once it finds a red-footed booby catching a fish in the water and taking off with it, it immediately dives down to attack, pecking at the red-footed booby's tail with its beak or flapping its wings violently, forcing the red-footed booby to spit out the prey it has already obtained when it cannot bear the pain, or it is so frightened by the attack that it throws the prey away. The white-bellied frigatebird takes the opportunity to accurately catch the fish that is about to fall into the water in an instant, making it a delicious meal in its mouth. Due to long-term attacks by white-bellied frigatebirds and other robber birds, the red-footed booby has even developed a conditioned reflex to spit out food when frightened and then quickly escape, sometimes forming the strange phenomenon of "big fish falling from the sky". In addition to snatching food, the white-bellied frigatebird also often preys on the eggs and chicks of other birds.

The breeding season of white-bellied frigatebirds is from April to June every year. At this time, male and female birds fold their wings and close their tail feathers, and come to the shore or islands to breed together. The throat sac of male frigatebirds that have reached sexual maturity is filled with air and expands into a large semi-transparent hemispherical bag. The color is bright red and very bright. This is their main means of showing off their handsome image in order to "courte" the female frigatebirds. During the courtship season, they often spread their wings, constantly circle around the female birds, dance gracefully, and make "Ga La, Ga La" sounds from their mouths from time to time. These are all expressions of courtship by male frigatebirds. In response, female frigatebirds constantly flap their wings, appearing to be extremely active, and are very careful to choose their ideal "husband" among the male birds. Once they meet a suitable mate, they will immediately go forward and rub their heads against the other's head or body to indicate their consent to the other's courtship, and then they will mate and mate.

After forming a mate, the male bird and the female bird start to build a nest together. Their nests are built on the top of a big tree or on the bushes of a rocky cliff. They are woven with branches and other materials. The nest walls are relatively simple, and the nest is covered with soft materials such as slender branches and seaweed. Although they build nests together, they also have different divisions of labor. The male bird is mainly responsible for bringing nest materials and handing them to the female bird, who then builds a nest on a tree or shrub. Interestingly, the branches, seaweed and other materials they use for nesting are mostly taken from the mouths of birds such as boobies by predatory food. After the new nest is built, the female bird lays eggs in it, only 1-2 white eggs each time, the size of which is 70×50 mm. At this time, the male bird will temporarily leave its partner to travel for a few days, and only the female bird will stay in the nest to incubate. After the male bird returns, they will no longer go out to forage, and begin to incubate in turns until the chicks hatch 40 days later. Even during the incubation period, they often steal some branches and other nesting materials from other bird nests to supplement their own nests.

The distribution range of the white-bellied frigatebird is not large. It is only found in the coastal areas of Guangdong in China. The number is also very rare. It is estimated that the total number in the world is less than 1,600 pairs. It is not only a first-class protected animal in China, but also listed in the International Bird Protection Committee’s World Endangered Bird Red List.

On May 2, 2006, a dead bird was found in Shiba Chongxi, Minhou, Fuzhou. It was identified as a white-bellied frigatebird (Fregata andrewsi), a juvenile, female, a national first-class protected wild animal, and a new bird record in our province. White-bellied frigatebirds usually live in the open sea and are found in the tropical waters of the northeastern Indian Ocean. They are only occasionally seen in coastal islands of Guangdong in China. The bird was found in Shiba Chongxi, Minhou, Fuzhou. It is speculated that it was affected by the first typhoon "Pearl" in 2006 and blew here. It is a stray bird.

Listed in Appendix I, Appendix II and Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2019 Edition Appendix I.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2018 ver 3.1 - Critically Endangered (CR).

Listed in China's National List of Key Protected Wildlife (February 5, 2021) Level 1.

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