Ron's Critter of the Day

Frigatebird VIDEO LINK   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VySe1X12gqs&hd=1

Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor) and the Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens).                        Fregatidae

Distribution: Coastal on Galápagos Islands
pagos, North Seymour Island and most commonly Genovesa  Island.  Both species are found elsewhere in the Atlantic also.  In addition three other great pantropical frigatebird species are found elsewhere but not on the Galapagos Islands.  Habitat: Frigatebirds build nests in low-lying shrubs and producing a single egg.  They cannot swim because they will drown in water. They have a small uropygial gland thus have very limited oil for their feathers.

Appearance: They look like giant blackish swallows with  a wingspan of approximately seven feet and their deeply forked scissor-like tails afford them excellent  maneuverability. Males have large red gular sacs or throat sacs during mating season.  Male F. minor has green irridescence  while F. Magnificens has purple irridescence on it feathers.Reproduction: Nests in low-lying shrubs and produce a single egg. Both parents take turns feeding for the first three months but then only by the mother for another eight months. It takes so long to rear a chick that frigatebirds cannot breed every year. It is typical to see juveniles as big as their parents waiting to be fed.

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Swallow-Tailed Gull

Creagrus furcatus               Laridae

Distribution: Endemic to the Galápagos Islands except for a small colony on Malpelo Island off the west coast of Colombia.

Appearance:  Gulls are medium-sized to largish seabirds with long, pointed wings and longish, rather stout, hook-tipped bills, usually with a marked gonydeal angle. Their legs are longish and their feet webbed.  C. furcatus is unmistakable; the only common whitish gull with a distinctive forked tail. Adult: Upper parts and neck grey; under parts white. In breeding plumage has dark grey head, large eye with red eye-ring, and black bill with pale base and tip. 51 – 58 cm (20 – 22.8 in).

Diet: Gulls feed by picking food from the surface of the water or by scavenging, often along the shoreline. Feeds mostly nocturnally, usually several miles from land. Flight is bouyant and tern-like.   

VIDEO LINK   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VySe1X12gqs&hd=1

Waved Albatros

Phoebastria irrorata           Diomedeidae

Distribution: Only in the offshore waters of Central south America from northern Chile to northern Ecuador and west to the Galápagos.

Habitat: Pelagic rarely approaching shore except to breed.

Appearance:  P. irrorata are medium-sized albatrosses, measuring about 86–90 cm (34–35 in) long, weighing in at 3.4 kg (7.5 lb), and having a wingspan 2.25m or 7.4 ft.  They are distinctive for their yellowish-cream neck and head, which contrasts with their mostly brownish bodies. They have a very long, bright yellow bill, which looks disproportionately large in comparison to the relatively small head and long, slender neck. They also have chestnut brown upper parts and underparts, except for the breast, with fine barring, a little coarser on the rump. They have brown upper-wings, back, and tail, along with a whitish breast and underwings. Their axillaries are brown. Finally they have blue feet. Juveniles are similar to adults except for more white on their head.   Chicks have brown fluffy feathers.

Diet: Fish squid and occasional crustaceans.

Remarks: P. irrorata has been observed attacking boobies forcing them to dislodge fish they have captured which the albatrosses then claim as their own.

Waved Albatrosses do have difficulty taking off and landing due to their huge wings and slender bodies. To make it easier they sometimes take off on cliffs that are more inland and not next to the coast. The problem is when they come in to land they have a high stalling speed, and when they take off it’s hard to beat their massive wings.

For reproduction see Ron’s Aquarium photos on flickr link  below.