A large, wide-winged sea bird of the tropical seas (wing span up to 6 feet), the Frigate Bird soars for hours on updrafts and may stay at sea all night or for days.
The picture of 2 squiggles is the best of a bad bunch of photos as I tried to catch a group of 7 or 8 of these birds soaring and fishing around the shore-line in Bodden Town after the storm last week.
Being opportunist in character, these birds sometimes travel great distances for food, though generally are non-migratory and stay within 50 miles of their home islands. As they are incapable of taking off from the surface of the water, they swoop down and pick fish just below the surface or leaping above the water); or they may attack other birds in flight and steal the fish that their victims disgorge or drop. The Frigate Bird nests in remote areas or islands on bushes or vegetation.
Tradionally, Westerners thought of the Frigate Bird as a bad omen; the Tahitians saw it as an embodiment of the war god 'Oro. We see is as a sign that the storm is over and it's time for hungry birds to fill their beaks (and Castro agrees).
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I have an excellent close-up of the "Man o War" off of the back of Joey's Panga. Steve has it on CD now, so you can get it from him if you would like to post it on the site. Jenn
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