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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

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Great Frigatebird

Great Frigatebird (Image ID 11650)
Photographed byJohn Stirling on Mon 11th Nov, 2013 and uploaded on Fri 13th Jun, 2014 .
Resolution451x768
Viewed582
ID11650
CommentImmature bird.

Immatures of all three species of frigatebird are difficult to tell apart. The tour leader said that the Lesser Frigatebird is quite rare on Christmas Island - perhaps only half-a-dozen, whereas there are hundreds of Great and Christmas Figatebirds there. This bird was perched with many similar ones in the vicinity along with adult Great Frigatebirds. The Great Frigatebird is also significantly larger than the Lesser Frigatebird and would have stood out amongst the others if it had been a Lesser. The immature Christmas Frigatebird has a narrow dark band separating the tan head and white breast and so can probably be eliminated.

I suppose it was a combination of all these factors, along with a long familiarity with all three species which caused the experts on the trip to have little doubt about its identity.
EquipmentCamera:          Canon EOS 7D
Lens:              Canon EF 300mm ƒ/2.8L IS USM
Teleconverter: Canon EF 1.4x II

Exposure:       1/640s @ ƒ/5.6, ISO 640, bias +1.0 EV
LocationWaterfall Bay, Christmas Island
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