Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Suliformes > Fregatidae > Fregata > Fregata aquila

Fregata aquila (Ascension Frigatebird)

Synonyms: Pelecanus aquilus; Tachipetes aquila

Wikipedia Abstract

The Ascension frigatebird (Fregata aquila) is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae which breeds on the tiny Boatswain Bird Island just off Ascension Island in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The Ascension frigatebird is a large lightly built seabird with brownish-black plumage and a deeply forked tail. It has a wingspan of around 2 m (6.6 ft). The male has a striking red gular sac which it inflates to attract a mate. The female is slightly larger than the male and has a brown breast-band and sometimes a white belly. They feed on fish taken in flight from the ocean's surface (mostly flying fish), and sometimes indulge in kleptoparasitism, harassing other birds to force them to regurgitate their food.
View Wikipedia Record: Fregata aquila

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Fregata aquila

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
9
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
56
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 19.4372
EDGE Score: 4.40365

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.164 lbs (1.435 kg)
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Vertebrates), Piscivore
Diet - Ectothermic [2]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [2]  10 %
Diet - Fish [2]  80 %
Forages - Water Surface [2]  80 %
Forages - Underwater [2]  20 %
Clutch Size [3]  1
Clutches / Year [1]  1
Fledging [1]  5 months 4 days
Incubation [3]  44 days
Speed [4]  94.98 MPH (42.46 m/s)
Wing Span [3]  6.56 feet (2 m)

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Ascension scrub and grasslands United Kingdom Afrotropic Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands  
Christmas and Cocos Islands tropical forests Australia Indo-Malayan Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests    

Important Bird Areas

Name Location  IBA Criteria   Website   Climate   Land Use 
Ascension Island: mainland and stacks St Helena (to UK) A1, A4i, A4ii, A4iii  
Boatswainbird Island St Helena (to UK) A1, A4i, A4ii, A4iii  

Prey / Diet

Chelonia mydas (Green Turtle)[3]
Exocoetus volitans (Blue flying fish)[3]
Onychoprion fuscatus (Sooty Tern)[3]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Phaethon aethereus (Red-billed Tropicbird)1
Sula sula (Red-footed Booby)1

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
3del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
4Alerstam T, Rosén M, Bäckman J, Ericson PGP, Hellgren O (2007) Flight Speeds among Bird Species: Allometric and Phylogenetic Effects. PLoS Biol 5(8): e197. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050197
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0