All of the frigatebird discussion recently reminded me of a frigatebird I photographed at Cooktown when I was in Australia in 2006. I tentatively identified it as a Great Frigatebird. I’m not looking at my Aus references at the moment by I seem to recall that those white “wing-spurs” that have been much discussed here recently, played a part in my id. Did I get it right? http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsd37/8385506828/in/photostream Gary ===============================
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In my opinion you did get it right, that is a young Great Frigatebird. In your bird, as in the Tanzanian bird, it is somewhat of a misnomer to call them either axillary or ‘wing-spurs’ because they don’t actually extend on to the axillaries or underwings, being confined to the flank. So they are just ‘spurs’. If they were longer and extended onto the axillaries or beyond, they would look narrow and pointed and the bird would be a Lesser Frigatebird.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
(…places head on chopping block) I think so Gary. Elliptical white belly patch (note concave white where it meets the breast band) and reduced, squarish spurs emanating from the centre (not front) of the belly patch. Mick
________________________________ Sent: Wednesday, 16 January 2013 12:00 PM
All of the frigatebird discussion recently reminded me of a frigatebird I photographed at Cooktown when I was in Australia in 2006. I tentatively identified it as a Great Frigatebird. I’m not looking at my Aus references at the moment by I seem to recall that those white “wing-spurs” that have been much discussed here recently, played a part in my id. Did I get it right? http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsd37/8385506828/in/photostream Gary ===============================
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http://birding-aus.org/ =============================== ===============================
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http://birding-aus.org ===============================