Christmas Frigatebird

Christmas Frigatebird

Fregata andrewsi

Silhouette: Emily Willoughby · PhyloPic

LCNTVUVulnerableENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Jakarta

In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%

15 Verified sightings at Jakarta
August Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Christmas Frigatebird

The Christmas frigatebird (Fregata andrewsi) or Christmas Island frigatebird is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae which is an endemic breeder to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. Apart from the Ascension frigatebird, the three other species of frigatebird have much more widely distributed breeding locations.

The Christmas frigatebird is a large lightly built seabird with brownish-black plumage, long narrow wings and a deeply forked tail. It has a wingspan of around 2.15 m (7.1 ft). The male has an egg shaped white patch on his belly and 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. 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. The species is listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Christmas frigatebird was once considered to belong to the species Fregata aquila but in 1914 the Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews proposed that the Christmas frigatebird should... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:56

Australia · 1999

© Frank Lambert · XC68337 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Jakarta 🇮🇩 Indonesia
<5%
2 Mumbai 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Christmas Frigatebird in Jakarta?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Christmas Frigatebird sighting in Jakarta on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 103rd most-seen of the 138 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Christmas Frigatebird in Jakarta?

August

In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Christmas Frigatebird in Jakarta on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months. That is one of Jakarta's driest months, with about 55 mm of rain against 370 mm in February.

What time of day is best to see a Christmas Frigatebird?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Christmas Frigatebird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Jakarta the best place to see a Christmas Frigatebird?

Yes

Of the 2 cities where we can rate Christmas Frigatebird sightings, Jakarta has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Mumbai (India, under 5%).

Which relatives of the Christmas Frigatebird live in Jakarta?

Same order: Suliformes

The closest relatives of the Christmas Frigatebird that you can see in Jakarta (order Suliformes, Gannets, Cormorants, and Allies) are Oriental Darter (about 40%), Little Black Cormorant (about 20%) and Little Cormorant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Christmas Frigatebird sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Christmas Frigatebird is recorded against all the birds logged in Jakarta (15 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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