St Lucia's freakish Frigatebird.

Lesser frigatebird flying overhead, St Lucia.

One of the greatest joys of birdwatching is its unpredictability and the possibility (at any time or any place) that you may discover a rare vagrant or witness a rare birding spectacle. Often amazing bird sightings come at unexpected times and not only when one is out looking for them....  

St Lucia is a place that regularly turns up rare bird species- causing a stir amongst birders and attracting ‘twitchers’ from far and wide. One such bird was the Lesser frigatebird which became somewhat of a local celebrity in 2018. Lesser frigatebirds rarely visit the mainland (never mind the South African coastline) and are mostly pelagic by nature- spending most of their time soaring over open ocean (and nesting on islands). Interestingly, they cannot walk or swim and hence obtain their food ‘on the wing’. They do this by eating flying fish which take to the air after being harassed by dolphins or predatory game fish. Another means by which they obtain food is through kleptoparasitism- harassing other birds for food. Being a large, agile bird, they are adept at harassing (and basically bullying) smaller birds such as terns and gulls to such an extent that they regurgitate their food in order to ‘bribe’ their persistent assailant to stop harassing them. Because of their pelagic habits and the fact that their distribution is restricted to more tropical waters than occur off the South African coastline, a Lesser frigatebird would be classified a ‘HUGE tick’ in South Africa.

The first time I had the pleasure of seeing the Lesser Frigatebird (and possibly the first time it was seen at all) was totally unexpected, on a visit to St Lucia beach with my two sons, then 2 and 4. As we stepped foot onto the beach I could see a large bird flying over the ocean coming from the North. It looked unusual, certainly not a Tern, Gull, Gannet or Osprey (some of the more commonly seen birds from the shore). As it drew nearer I saw the unmistakeable deeply forked tail and knew immediately that it was a Frigatebird. I had never seen a Frigatebird (Greater or Lesser) before so this was extremely exciting for me and without having my binoculars handy, had to get closer to see it properly and know which one it was. I picked up both boys and started a mad sprint to the shoreline to intercept the bird, losing hats, sunglasses, sandwiches and plastic spades along the way. The boys were rather confused but amused because what had begun as a slow amble onto the beach had turned into a mad sprint for no apparent reason…anyhow, the sprint paid off and as we reached the waters edge the Frigatebird flew directly overhead. It was obviously a juvenile bird, still in its transition to full adult plumage so I tried in the few seconds to memorize as much detail of the bird as possible to aid with later identification. On arrival home I consulted the bird book and identified it as the Lesser frigatebird due to the distinctive white ‘armpit’ patches.

Quite amazingly, the Lesser frigatebird took a liking to our stretch of coastline and became a regular sight for the next couple of months. It would move between Richards Bay to the South, St Lucia and Cape Vidal (all of which have big tern roosts) where it harassed the other birds for food. Many birders took the opportunity to come twitch the most reliable Lesser frigatebird for many moons. Some left happy and others disappointed….. Ironically, the most reliable Lesser frigatebird in yonks was still pretty unreliable because it frequented a stretch of coast approximately 100km in extent! Eventually the bird disappeared, maybe to return to where it ‘should be’ soaring over the warm tropical waters of the Indian Ocean to the North. Maybe one day it will return…..   

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The Lesser frigatebird which was a regular in St Lucia for a large part of 2018.