Lesser frigatebird
species of bird
The lesser frigatebird (Fregata ariel) is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae. Around 75 cm (30 in) in length, it is the smallest species of frigatebird. It occurs over tropical and subtropical waters across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as off the Atlantic coast of Brazil.
The lesser frigatebird is a lightly built seabird with brownish-black plumage, long, narrow wings, and a deeply forked tail. The male has a striking red gular sac, which he inflates to attract a mate. The female is slightly larger than the male and has a white breast and belly. Frigatebirds feed on fish taken in flight from the ocean's surface (often flying fish), and sometimes indulge in kleptoparasitism, harassing other birds to force them to regurgitate their food.
Taxonomy
The lesser frigatebird was first described as Atagen ariel by English zoologist George Gray in 1845 from a specimen collected on Raine Island, Queensland, Australia. The lesser frigatebird is one of five closely related species of the genus Fregata. The other four are the great frigatebird (F. minor), Christmas frigatebird (F. andrewsi), magnificent frigatebird (F. magnificens), and Ascension frigatebird (F. aquila).
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This entry incorporates text from “Lesser frigatebird” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.