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Migration
Nature Of Migration
Some individuals may be permanent residents of breeding range, due mainly to length of breeding season of ≥1 yr for an individual adult. Others disperse considerable distance from breeding colony; mainly prebreeders and nonbreeding birds, and males, which leave the colony once chicks are about 3 mo old (Diamond 1972, 1973). No data on where individuals go; few birds banded. Six recoveries of chicks banded on Barbuda, e. West Indies, recovered elsewhere: 2 as adults in Grenadines and St. Martin; 1 fledgling in Antigua; 3 second-year birds in Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Tobago; 1 third-year bird in Haiti. A chick banded in s. Brazil recovered 5,000 km north in Lesser Antilles (Sick 1993); see Demography and populations: range, below.
Timing And Routes Of Migration
Few data. More numerous along Gulf Coast of North America (north of breeding range) from Apr through Aug (Eisenmann 1962, Harrington et al. 1972); courtship begins in the Caribbean Aug–Oct (AWD, EAS), and in w. Mexico Sep–Oct (Osorno 1996).
Migratory Behavior
Sexes commonly found in separate locations; may be related to differing wing-loading and wind levels (Harrington et al. 1972), or differences in parental investment with males deserting colony when chicks about 3 mo old.
Control And Physiology
No data.
Diamond, Antony W. and Elizabeth A. Schreiber. 2002. Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/601
