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Frigatebird VietNam (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter glennmanc
- Start date
Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Don't think it's Great, shape of the white is wrong despite lack of axillary 'spur'.
Id say Christmas, Great is by far, the least common of the regular three.
A
Id say Christmas, Great is by far, the least common of the regular three.
A
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Ditto to yes please from me too. I'd have suggested Isla del Chrimbo too. I took Chrimbo off my list when I first found this article, realising my Id's were unsafe.
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
I've spent hundreds of hours over months, laying on my back in Bali, watching groups of Frigates flying over and have never, had a bird that I thought was Great.
This is a seriously challenging group to ID.
A
Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
You were unlucky then mate, my first Great was an adult male over a beach in Bali
Either that or neither of us know what we're doing! :-O
A
Here is the explanation from David James (posted with his permission):
Explaining this particular ID is difficult. It is based on a combination of characters that are mostly subtle and hard to describe, but combine to give a distinctive appearance to my eye.
The bird still has a complete black breast band so it is still in juvenile plumage Most distinctive is the White head in a bird that is still (effectively) in juvenile plumage, although it is a little worn and would have started moulting body feathers.
The head is white, not buff. Both Great and Christmas fledge with buff head feathers but this tend to fade to off white rapidly. CI frigate moults in some fresh buff head feathers, starting even before they fledge, which means they always have some indication of a buffy head until they loose the breast band. The head of this bird looks too white for CIFR in my experience. However, it might be the lighting in the photo exaggerating the white-headed appearance.
The lower flanks are begining to encroach on the lower corners of the white belly patch. This is the first stage of the darkening of the lower belly. As the black of the lower flanks encroaches further it will create distinctive concave scoops out of the bottom corners of what was originally a nearly oval belly patch. For now, it is subtle.
Where the belly patch meets the breast band the boundary is rounded with no obvious angles. In CIFR this boundary tends to be straight across the chest in the centre, then with a slight angle backwards on either side.
The innerwings on CIFR are very broad with big bulging humeral feathers close to the body on the trailing edge. On this bird the humerals are slightly bulging (best seen on the left wing) but not nearly enough for a CIFR.
Explaining this particular ID is difficult. It is based on a combination of characters that are mostly subtle and hard to describe, but combine to give a distinctive appearance to my eye.
The bird still has a complete black breast band so it is still in juvenile plumage Most distinctive is the White head in a bird that is still (effectively) in juvenile plumage, although it is a little worn and would have started moulting body feathers.
The head is white, not buff. Both Great and Christmas fledge with buff head feathers but this tend to fade to off white rapidly. CI frigate moults in some fresh buff head feathers, starting even before they fledge, which means they always have some indication of a buffy head until they loose the breast band. The head of this bird looks too white for CIFR in my experience. However, it might be the lighting in the photo exaggerating the white-headed appearance.
The lower flanks are begining to encroach on the lower corners of the white belly patch. This is the first stage of the darkening of the lower belly. As the black of the lower flanks encroaches further it will create distinctive concave scoops out of the bottom corners of what was originally a nearly oval belly patch. For now, it is subtle.
Where the belly patch meets the breast band the boundary is rounded with no obvious angles. In CIFR this boundary tends to be straight across the chest in the centre, then with a slight angle backwards on either side.
The innerwings on CIFR are very broad with big bulging humeral feathers close to the body on the trailing edge. On this bird the humerals are slightly bulging (best seen on the left wing) but not nearly enough for a CIFR.
