The Magnificent Frigatebird <http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesFT.asp?fotogID=568&curPageNum=8&recnum=BD0056>
Very entertaining to watch, an effortless soaring bird. A regular residence of the Mexican Caribbean. I awoke one morning at sunrise to watch a whole line of Frigatebirds up and down the coast. Below them was an Eagle sloping the buildings, hunting for fish. Below that Pelicans workings the various sloping opportunities close in, swooping down and skimming the surf taking advantage of the "ground effect". Then the plunge for a fish. All to the sound of pounding surf and a warm sea breeze. Think I will Zen out for a moment before heading to Iowa for a contest.....
But first... I have heard of many Bird names used for sail planes but not the Frigate.
Eagle, Pelican, Stork, and Black Hawk come to mind right away. How many more are there?
Cold, cloudy, and windy here in Chicago
Frigatebirds in Cancun http://www.stevenmeyer.net/CANCUN-05/pages/DSC03846.html
Steve Meyer SOAR LSF IV
At 05:15 AM 5/14/2005, Ray Hayes wrote:
Frigate was my guess too, they are black and have extreme high aspect ratio wings, with a very distinct dihedral crook in the wings and long forked tail. They can thermal out in the lightest of lift leaving see gulls and etc. to flapping. My favorite Sea bird to watch fly.
Ray Hayes http://www.skybench.com Home of Wood Crafters ----- Original Message ----- From: "JakBQuik" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <soaring@airage.com> Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 5:07 AM Subject: [RCSE] Birds in Cancun
I can't be sure, but I would guess what you saw were frigate birds. They are famous for attacking other gulls etc, which will drop, or even regurgitate any fish onboard.
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