Description
The Great Frigatebird is a large seabird and, despite its name, it is the second largest frigatebird, after the Magnificent Frigatebird. The Great Frigatebird measures 85 to 105 centimetres (33 to 41 in) in length with long pointed wings of 205–230 cm (80.5–90.5 in) and long forked tails. The Great Frigatebird weighs from 640–1,550 g (1.4–3.4 lb).
The frigatebirds have the highest ratio of wing area to body mass, and the lowest wing loading of any bird. This has been hypothesized to enable the birds to utilize marine thermals created by small differences between tropical air and water temperatures. Male Great Frigatebirds are smaller than females, but the extent of the variation varies geographically. The plumage of males is black with scapular feathers that have a purple-green iridescence when they refract sunlight. Females are black with a white throat and breast and have a red eye ring. Juveniles are black with a rust-tinged white face, head and throat.
Read more about this topic: Great Frigatebird
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“God damnit, why must all those journalists be such sticklers for detail? Why, they’d hold you to an accurate description of the first time you ever made love, expecting you to remember the color of the room and the shape of the windows.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“It is possible—indeed possible even according to the old conception of logic—to give in advance a description of all ‘true’ logical propositions. Hence there can never be surprises in logic.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)