Frigate Birds - Sydney area

["Mike Simpson" <>]

I was just reading through Chris Chafers Illawarra bird lists and came across his notation that Frigate Birds had only been listed twice off the Illawarra coast, and I was wondering how often they appear in the Sydney area.

 

My main reason for asking is that I am familiar with frigate birds having lived on Ascension Island, S.Atlantic for 2 years and the Ascension Frigate Bird was an everyday sight there, waiting for the brown boobies and gannets to catch a fish, attacking the boobies in mid air causing them to drop their catch, then snatching the fish in mid air.

 

When I came to Sydney in the early 1970s, I worked high in an office block in Macquarie Street, overlooking the Botanic Gardens and Sydney Harbour. One day I clearly saw a pair of Frigate Birds circling over the harbour and watched them for about 15 minutes. I had not been in the country long, and was not all that interested in bird watching, so thought no more about it.

 

Thanks - Mike.