//------------------------------// // The Great Frigatebird // Story: Nature is So Fascinating // by Powderjaggy //------------------------------// Photo credit: Andy Jones "Hello, class. I hope everycreature is enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. I didn't think our guest would enjoy being cooped up inside the classroom, so we're having our class outside today. And if you look to the skies over there, you'll see him flying towards us right now. "His name is Redbeard and he's a great frigatebird. He has come a long way to get here; he spends most of his time soaring high above the ocean. Probably the first thing you'll notice is that he really is a great bird! His wings can spread as wide as Princess Celestia's. Yet he weighs less than most of my chickens at home. "Because he's so lightweight and his wings are so large, he can easily ride on air currents and hardly needs to spend any effort staying aloft. In fact, if you watch carefully, you'll see that that he almost never needs to flap his wings while he is cruising along. He can stay in flight for days or even months at a time when he feels like it. "Believe it or not, Yona, he can continue flying while he is asleep! Sometimes, he'll keep one eye open to make sure he doesn't fly into any other birds, but he can also sleep in flight with both of his eyes closed. Rainbow Dash probably wishes she could fly like a frigatebird sometimes, especially if it let her take naps while flying... Um, please don't tell her I said that. "Even though frigatebirds are such magnificent fliers, they do land on a regular basis, and it looks like Redbeard is about to right now. Their feet are so short that they cannot really walk, but they're fine for perching on tree branches—oh, or on my withers! "Now that you can get a closer look at him, you can see that Redbeard has a bright red throat pouch. Only male frigatebirds have this. A female great frigatebird would be a little larger than he is, with a big white patch on her throat and chest. During the breeding season, male frigatebirds gather in trees on faraway islands, where there are no land predators to prey on their eggs and chicks. They then show off to the females by calling, snapping their beaks, and inflating their red throat pouches like balloons! "Once they have found a mate, a pair of great frigatebirds will build a nest out of sticks, vines, and leaves, usually in a tree. The female lays only one egg at a time. Both parents take turns sitting on the egg until it hatches: while one keeps the egg warm, the other flies out to sea to look for food. "It takes a very long time before a young frigatebird is ready to live on their own. Other seabirds are usually old enough to look after themselves in three months or less. A young frigatebird, on the other hoof, needs to return to their parents for food even many months after they have grown old enough to fly! This might be because of how difficult it is for frigatebirds to learn how to hunt by themselves. "You see, even though frigatebirds get their food from the ocean, they do not like getting wet. A frigatebird will pretty much never land in water on purpose. Most birds produce oil from a gland near their tail, and they spread this oil over their feathers to keep them waterproof. But frigatebirds produce very little oil, so they would quickly get soaked if they found themselves in the sea. Not to mention, with their little feet, they would have trouble leaping clear from the water to get back into the air. "So it takes a lot of skill for a frigatebird to catch a meal without getting their feathers wet. They usually go for fish swimming very close to the water's surface, which they can snap up with their bills as they fly past. They especially like to hunt for flying fish, which are these amazing fish with great big fins used for gliding. When flying fish are being chased by larger fishes, they can escape by jumping into the air and gliding for long distances before landing back in the water. However, traveling through the air like this puts them in danger of being caught by frigatebirds. "Frigatebirds have another way of getting food. We saw earlier that Redbeard's long, pointed wings let him cruise effortlessly on air currents, but he can also fly very quickly and make sharp turns when he wants to. He uses these abilities to chase after other seabirds until they spit up the fish that they've caught, which he then takes for himself or feeds to his young. It's... not very nice, but it's what he needs to do to survive. "Being in this class, you know that not all creatures have the choice of being kind to other creatures all the time. But that doesn't mean that we cannot make a positive difference in the lives of others. Could somecreature please pass me that jar, if that's alright— Oh, thank you, Ocellus. "These are fish-flavored protein sticks. If you like, you're all welcome to stay behind after class to feed them to Redbeard. You can even try tossing them into the air for him to catch with his incredible flying skills! It's really the least we can do for him after he's traveled such a long way to come see us. And this way, he won't have to steal food from a poor booby or tropicbird when he gets home later. Have a lovely day, everycreature, and stay kind to each other."