A rare sighting of a lone vagrant in the month of July 2017 at a coastal fishing estuary Tanjung Karang Selangor. There are 3 species of Frigatebird you can spot in Peninsula Malaysia. This is the most common one.
The white bellied of the bird indicate it is the Christmas Island specie whilst the whitish head indicate its a juvenile. The Christmas Island frigatebird is the ninth most evolutionary distinct and globally endangered bird in the world. Australia shares this bird with Indonesia. Christmas Island is its home and the only place in the world where it breeds and nests in the forest canopy. The male frigatebird has a bright red throat pouch called a ‘gular’, that it blows up like a fancy balloon to attract females during the mating season. It takes at least 15 months for a pair of Christmas Island Frigatebirds to raise one chick to independence, and the birds can live as long as 50 years. Frigatebirds primarily forage in the ocean for food, scooping marine organisms such as fish and squid. Over-fishing in its south-east habitat effects food availability for the frigatebird, contributing to the decline of the species.
The bird was sighted in the afternoon when the fishing boats were returning to port of call. Probably it was following them for a free makan as the fisherman throw back their unwanted catch.
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