Barbuda's single town, Codrington, is located in about the center of the Island on Codrington Lagoon. The taxi driver took us to the town dock where we were able to hire a tour guide with boat to take us to the Frigate Bird Colony at the north end of Codrington Lagoon.
The Magnificent Frigate Birds have the largest wing area to body mass ratio of any birds. With a wing span up to 7.5' they can almost continuously soar only rarely flapping their wings. These birds, which live as long as 44 years, primarily feed on fish but cannot swim. They fly head first toward its prey picking it out of the water with their bill, never touching the water with their wings or feet. Their second source of food is stealing from other birds which has earned them the British name of Man of War.
Barbuda is thought to be the largest Magnificent Frigate breeding colony with about 5,000 birds. To attract females the males, which have shiny black plumage, inflate their scarlet gular throat pouch and vibrate their outstretched wings. The female choices the male and they form a kind of seasonal marriage. The males gather the sticks for the nest and the females builds the nest, in the case of the Barbuda colony, in mangroves. There is only one egg hatched and both take turn incubating it off 41 to 55 days. Both feed the chick for the first three months by gathering food and opening their mouths and allowing the chick to stick its head down their mouths and take the food from their throats. After the first three months the female only feed the chick for the next eight months. The mating season is just once a year. With the time it takes to hatch and raise a young chick the Frigates can only mate every other season. The females start breeding at 8 to 9 years and the males at 10 to 12 years.
The females are territorial but the males travel great distances. There have been males tagged in Barbuda that have been sighted in the Magnificent Bird Colony in the Galapagos. In the case of hurricanes the Frigates protect themselves by flight above the storm. These Birds have been living and fishing in the Caribbean for some time. Columbus noted the Frigates in his early trips.
These birds live up to their species name, Magnificent Frigate, in every way.
After visiting the Frigate Colony our guide, who was traveling with his young son, took us to a beach grill and bar which fronted both the Lagoon and the Caribbean, on the west side of the Island. This beach bar was part of the Lighthouse Bay Resort which sits near the north end of an eleven mile beach pink toned white power sand with turquoise colored water out several hundred yards. Our group were the only ones on the beach and the only lunch guest for that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment