Neither am I, but I agree with Greg... in the absence of other theories anyway.
The breast band is prominent and wide and the head is white, so it would be
a juvenile if it were a Great, Lesser or Christmas.
The white belly patch is not elliptical as would be expected on a Great, and
the axillary spurs are too large anyway. I don't think it is triangular either,
with it not pointing backwards as might be seen on a Lesser and the spurs start
from behind the line of the breast band as well. The axillary spurs are so
prominent that it might be tempting to consider a Christmas (and they angle
forward and are parallel and are much closer to the front of the wing). But the
bill doesn't appear to be overly long and the prominence of the breast band
combined with the very white head leads me away from Christmas.
Ascension is the only one I have no experience with, but a quick scan of Google
shows that Greg could be on the money. Have a look here, in particular the
shape and prominence of the axillary spur on that immature bird at the bottom
(not to mention the white head).:
http://worldbirdinfo.net/Pages/BirdMediaView.aspx?BirdID=31526&Source=%2FPages%2FBirdsSearch.aspx%3FBirdField%3D8%26BirdSearch%3DFREGATIDAE%253AFrigatebirds
By the way, I can't recommend enough the paper by David James on Frigatebird ID
(especially if you're visiting Christmas Island!).
Mick
________________________________
From: Greg and Val Clancy <>
To: Steve Clark <>; Birding Aus
<>
Sent: Tuesday, 15 January 2013 12:05 PM
Subject: Tanzanians need help with Frigatebird id
I am not an expert on Frigatebirds but the closest I can find in my copy of
Handbook of the Birds of the World is the Ascension Frigatebird, a young or
pale morph bird.
Greg
Dr Greg. P. Clancy
Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
0266493153 0429601960
-----Original Message----- From: Steve Clark
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 11:32 AM
To: Birding Aus
Subject: Tanzanians need help with Frigatebird id
G'day all
My friends on the Tanzanian equivalent of birding-aus are currently
wrestling with the identification of a frigatebird that has been
frequenting some of the nicer beach-side suburbs of Dar es Salaam. They
have asked me to post some photos on birding-aus for the Australian experts
to examine.
So there are four photos here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bec5nxr4ul166fz/90IJhl3pfU
I'll pass on any opinions that emerge.
Cheers
Steve
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