Magnificent Frigatebird

Status Six records. The first bird was taken near the entrance to Halifax Harbour on 16 October 1876 (Deane 1879). A male specimen was taken near Devil's Island, Halifax County, during June 1891; and George Little shot a male at Terence Bay, Halifax County, on 5 December 1932 (R.W. Smith 1938); both of these birds are now at the Nova Scotia Museum. One appeared on tuna fishing waters near Lower Wedgeport, Yarmouth County, on 14 July 1949 and remained in the vicinity for ten days or more (I.J. Pothier). Frank Brennan saw one swooping to take a small fish on 4 August 1949 from a wharf at Freeport, Digby County. Finally, a female frigatebird was seen at Matthew's Lake, Shelburne County, on 1 September 1980 by Russel J. Crosby.

Remarks These huge, fork-tailed seabirds are strays from the tropics probably carried here by gales. Their long, hooked bills enable them to catch the near-surface fish that form the major portion of their diet. Israel Pothier writes of the Lower Wedgeport bird: "Along with a hundred or more people, I watched this bird above the Tuna Wharf. It is a graceful flyer. It hardly ever moved its wings and there was a 20 to 25 mile wind blowing at the time. It took one herring but would not come closer than 50 feet. From about 1:30 to 7 p.m. it stood (in air) looking more like a Chinese kite than a bird."