The Magnificent Frigatebird in Western North America

STEVEN G. I4LODINOW * November,but winter frigatebirdsare exceptional.There are fewer than ten Texas records from this season, with the most unusual For thepurposes of thisarticle, western North America is definedas the involving twenty birds at Rockport on December 17, 1940 statesand provincesof the UnitedStates and Canada(excluding (Oberholser 1974). Hawaii) that lieprimarily west of 95 degreeslongitude. Inland south- Wanderingfrigatebirds are alsooccasionally found at lakesand ern Californiais definedas thoseareas east of thePeninsular Ranges riverswithin fifty miles of theTexas Coast, usually in fall (Oberholser andSierra Nevada south of Inyo County. Coastal southern California is 1974).Farther inland, however, records are exceedingly scarce, with definedas San Luis Obispo Count)4 south. Central California, along the about four from around San Antonio, three from near Austin, one coast,extends from Sonoma County through Monterey County. Inland fromFalcon Lake, one from BeeCounty, and one from Nacogdoches it reachesfrom Lake Tahoe south through Inyo County. Northern Cali- County.All of theseoccurred between August 12 andSeptember 23, fornia extendsfrom MendocinoCounty north on the coastand from and most (if not all) were related to hurricaneor tropical storm Lake Tahoe north in the interior. activity.The mostnotable inland Texas record is of nine birdsat Mitchell Lake following Hurricane Beulah (W. Sekula, in litt). Perhapssurprisingly, there are no recordsfrom the northwestern half inhabitantheMagnificent of NewFrigatebirdWorld oceans (Fregata that magnificens) hasa fascinating isawidespread pattern of of the state. occurrencein westernNorth America.This speciesbreeds not far from the western United States in the Mexican states of Veracruz and TltE GREAT PLAINS BajaCalifornia Sur (Howelland Webb1995), so its regularoccur- There are twelvefrigatebird records involving thirteen individuals reneein Texasand southernCalifornia is not a greatsurprise. What from the GreatPlains. Eight of theseare from Oklahoma,induding might not be expected,however, is that MagnificentFrigatebirds oneof a GreatFrigatebird which will be discussedlater. The remain- occurannually in California'sinterior and havewandered as far afield as the Alaska Peninsula and Colorado. To best understand the ing four comefrom Kansas,three of which are from far northern complexstatus and distributionof this speciesin westernNorth Kansas,no morethan sixty miles from the Nebraskaborder. America,we will takea regionalapproach. The datafor this article Great Plains frigatebirdshave occurredmostly between mid- wereobtained from state,provincial, and regional status and distrib- Augustand mid-Octoberwith two outliersin Juneand onein April. ution guides,state and provincialbird recordscommittees, and Althoughno overallcorrelation with stormactivity is readilyappar- American Birds/Field Notes. ent, the three recordsfrom 1988 seemed to have resulted from Hur- ricane Gilbert.

TEXAS COLORADO CoastalTexas is the onlyplace in westernNorth America where the sightof a frigatebirddoes not automaticallyelicit cries of joy.This is There is one MagnificentFrigatebird record from Colorado.This becauseMagnificent Frigatebirds are uncommon(but not rare) bird wasfirst seenin JeffersonCounty on September14, 1985,and summervisitors along the entireTexas Coast, where they are found thenreappeared two dayslater at GreenMountain Reservoir, where from shoreand on pelagictrips in the vicinityof oil-drillingplat- it waskilled after purportedly attacking a windsurfer(Webb 1985). forms.Most of the frigatebirdsin Texasare iramatures,although Its occurrencewas felt to be relatedto HurricaneElena by Andrews adults are not unusual. and Righter(1992), and 1985was a minor irruption yearin Arizona The firstbird or twousually arrives during early April, but signif- andCalifornia. This sighting, more than 700 milesfrom the nearest icantnumbers do not normallyappear until July.Peak occurrence is saltwater(which is at the head of the Seaof Cortez), is farther inland duringAugust and earlySeptember. Thereafter, numbers dwindle, than anyother in westernNorth America. and the lastindividuals are oftenseen in earlyOctober. Occasional individualsarrive as earlyas mid-Marchand linger aslate as mid- NEW MEXICO NewMexico has six frigatebird records, of whichfive are from Octo- * 4819Gardner Avenue, Everett, Washington 98203. ber and one is from February.Three of thesebirds occurred in the

VOLUME52 (1998), ISSUE4 413 ImmatureMagnificent Frigatebirds greatly outnumber adults Somejuvenile Magnificent Frigatebirds show only weakly as post- breedingvisitors in the west. Notethe characteristic developedbreast patches. These birds appear more extensively purewhite head,black triangular breast patches, and white white-bellied.However notice the diamond-shapeof the black diamond-shapedbelly patchof this juvenileMagnificent framearound the bellypatch, and the reduced,but still noticeable, Frigatebird.Photograph/Brian E. Small breastpatches on thisjuvenile Magnificent Frigatebird photographedat the DryTortugas in Florida. Photograph/BrianE. Small

Mexico and the Sea of Cortez, whereaswestern New Mexico is con- CALIFORNIA: WINTER AND SPRING RECORDS* siderablycloser to the latter.The threepre-1988 records are as fol- Location Date Literature Cited lows:Bitter Lake (southeasternNM), October4-6, 1955 (Hubbard Santa•Cruz,Santa Cr•uzCo. 4/28/95 FieldNotes 49:304 1989);Silver City (southwesternNM), October 1, 1967(Hubbard IIGoleta, Santa Barbara Co. 5/22/93 AmericanBirds 47:453 1989);and LasCruces (south-central NM), February1, 1969(Hub- I A[•__NuevoI,Santa Cruz Co. 5/21/93 Americ•anBirds47:•450 Farallon Is San Francisco Co. 5/20/93 American Birds 47:450 bard 1989). The two Octoberbirds occurin a timeframemore con- IIMontere 2/11-2/12/92 American Birds 46:310 sistentwith birdswandering inland from the Gulf of Mexico,while •Ano Nuevo Point, Santa Cruz Co.? 2/13/92 treericanBirds46:310 the Februarybird isan anomaly. , founddead, Eel River mouth, February1992 Harris1996 Humboldt Co. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NationalCity, San Diego Co. 1/5/92 AmericanBirds 46:314 FarallonIsm, San Francisco Co.? 12/16/89 Americ•anBirds43:361_ In southernCalifornia, the Magnificent Frigatebird is an annualvis- UpperNewport Bay, Orange Co. 4/20/89 AmericanBirds 42:536 itor, averagingjust over twenty frigatebirdsper year since 1970 tSanDiego, SanDiego Co. 4/23/89 treericanBirds42:536 (AmericanBirds/Field Notes, vols. 25-51). The vast majority of these StovepipeWells, Inyo Co.? 4J8/88 treericanBirds 42:481 wereseen from earlyJune through mid-September, with a distinct ]]West Covina, LosAn•les Co. 2/11/88 treericanBirds42:320 peakbetween late June and early August. During the remainderof IIPigeon Point, San Mateo Co.? 2/5/87 AmericanBirds 41:483 SanFrancisco Bay and Santa Cruz Co 3/6-3/9/86 AmericanBirds 40:519 theyear, frigatebirds are extremely scarce. Since 1970, there have been I[BolsaChica.OraneCo. ,,19,85 ,mericanBirds39:2%;onlyfive reports from late September through October and thirteen I•RedondoBeach, LosAngeles t•o. 3/25/80 treericanBirds 34:_305 from Novemberthrough May. The great majority of southern RedondoBeach, Los A•es Co. 1/4/80 AmericanBirds 34:200 Cahfornia'sfrigatebirds are immatures, as is true for the remainder of IIPismo Beach, SanLuis Obispo Co. 2/16/77 AmericanBirds31:373 the Pacific Coast and Arizona. Superficiallysurprising is thatonly 60 percentof southernCali- •ino,SanBernadino Co. 3/23/77American 31:1046Birds I SanM,•el lsl•n'nd, S• Barba•-a CO. 4J6/76 A...... B,rds30:889 fornia'sfrigatebirds have been found along the coast. The remaining I'north end Salton Sea, Riverside Co. 2/20/72 AmericanBirds 26:654 fortypercent have been seen mostly at theSalton Sea, the large saline TRecordsfrom1971 on. lake in the desert of southeastern California. The reason that the I ?Recordsgiven in AmericanBirds/FieldNotesas frigatebird sp? Many of the remaining SaltonSea attracts frigatebirds is not dear,but it hasa similaror fri•rdsI maynot have beenspe• cificallyidentifiedas• Magnificents- __ greaterattraction for severalother speciesof seabirds,including Brown Pelican, Blue-footed Booby, and Yellow-footed Gull southeasternquarter of the stateduring October 1988 and appear to (McCaskie1970, McCaskie 1983). Though the SaltonSea is only berelated to theaftermath of HurricaneGilbert, which also swept fri- about80 milesfrom the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific proper is probably gatebirdsinto Oklahomaand Kansas.Thus, these frigatebirds must not the sourceof frigatebirdsand otherseabirds at the SaltonSea. have travelled at least 550 miles overland from the Gulf of Mexico. Instead,most of thesebirds likely come inland from the upper reach- The originof the otherthree New Mexicofrigatebirds is not so es of the Sea of Cortez, which lie about 150 miles to the south clear.Easternmost New Mexicois aboutequidistant from the Gulf of (McCaskie1970, McCaskie 1983). Frigatebirds, boobies, and Yellow-

414 FIELD NOTES FRIGATEBIRD

'.\

Adultfemale Magnificent Frigatebirds have solid black heads and throats and a relativelytapered triangular intrusionof blackinto the white of the belly. Bothof thesefeatures are evidentin the perchedand flying femaleMagnificent Frigatebirds illustrated above. Photographs/Brian E. Small

footedGulls are far morenumerous there than they are at similarlat- CALIFORNIA ANDARIZONAFRIGATEBIRDS BY YEAR* itudesalong Baja California's Pacific Coast. The record high count of frigatebirdsfor the SaltonSea was 22 seentogether at the Sea'snorth Year SoCal•Coastal SoCal--lnland Cen/NorCal Arizona 1996 2 0 0 1 endon July29, 1979(AB 33:896). 1995 2 6 0 0 Inlandrecords away from the SaltonSea come mostly from large 1994 4 0 0 1 reservoirsand the ColoradoRiver Valley, though there is a recordor 1993 8 5 8 4 two of birds crossingmountain rangesand over the open desert. 1992 6 3 2 5 Inland Californiasightings show a similarseasonal distribution to 1991 5 1 2 0 thosefrom the coast,except that out-of-seasonrecords are far fewer. 1990 8 16 2 2 1989 7 2 I 0 All southeasternCalifornia records, except two, lie betweenJune 4 1988 21 2 2 1 and September23. The two outliersare one at Chino on March 23, 1987 4 7 6 0 1977 (AB 31:1046) and one at the north end of the Salton Sea on 1986 5 4 I 0 February20, 1972(AB 26:654). 1985 11 15 0 10 Coastalfrigatebirds in southernCalifornia, and elsewherealong 1984 3 19 0 2 NorthAmerica's Pacific Coast, are seen mostly from shore or within 1983 7 5 3 1 sightof land.Records more than a coupleof milesout are scarce, 1982 6 4 0 3 1981 10 6 3 0 probablyeven when one accounts for relativelylow coveragein these 1980 40 7 3 3 areas. 1979 50 40 9 20 Frigatebirdnumbers in coastaland inland southernCalifornia 1978 4 11 0 0 vary substantiallyfrom year to year and perhapsfrom decadeto 1977 21 9 7 4 decade.From 1977through 1986, the yearlyaverage was almost 29 1976 22 11 I 5 frigatebirdsper year, but sincethen the averagehas dropped to fewer 1975 6 4 0 1 1974 11 9 1 0 thantwelve per year. The highestannual tally was 90 in 1979,when 1973 8 3 3 1 roughly41 individualswere seenon the coast,nine were found 1972 51 10 7 0 inlandwest of the mountains,and about40 werereported from the 1971 7 3 I 2 SaltonSea (AB 33:896;AB 34:200).Other major irruptions occurred •Valuesobtained froin American Birds/FieldNotes torCa•tornia and •om G. Rosenberg in 1972 (61 birds-AB 26:904; AB 27:120) and 1980 (47 birds-AB (in li•) forArizonia. Readers should note that these numbers represent estimates. In par thisis due to themobiSty and vi•biSty of frigatebirds,which r•ses the chances of an indi 34:929;AB 35:225).Noteworthy incursions were also noted in 1976 v•du• birdbeing tallied more than once. Also, the number ofrepo•s for a givenseason is (33 birds-AB 30:1002; AB 31:222); 1977 (30 birds-AB 31:1188; AB notalways directly stated in AmericanBirds/FieldNoRs. Inland southern C•ifornia isde- 32:257); 1985 (26 birds-AB 39:962; AB 30:157); and 1990 (24 fmedasbeln• east 9fthe Penjnsular•anges. ch Mos•t reco•rdsarefrom the Sa•on Sea. birds-AB44:1185; 45:150). At the otherend of the spectrum,only two frigatebirdswere seenin 1996 (FN 50:996),and only four were found in 1994 (AB 48:988;AB 49:100).

VOLUME5 ;) (1998), ISSUE4 415 The sourcesof post-breedingand vagrant Magnificeat Frigatebirds in the Westare the Gulfof Mexico andCaribbean for Texas,Great Plains, and perhaps even southeastern New Mexican records; and the Seaof Cortezand, perhaps,the RevillagigedoIslands for Westcoast and southwesterninterior records.These females were photographedat the lone UnitedStates breeding site in Florida. Photograph/BriaaE. Small

The causesof thesefluctuations are cryptic,but neitherE1 Nifio nor La Nifia seemto be involved(S. Feldstein,pers. comm.). Further- more,the Salton Sea and the PacificCoast are clearly not alwayssim- ilarlyinfluenced. Though both regions had a banneryear in 1979,the coastalinvasions of 1972 (51 birds) and 1980 (40 birds) were just aboveaverage at or nearthe SaltonSea (ten birdsin 1972and seven in 1980).On/he otherhand, the two highestcotrots at theSalton Sea (excepting1979) werenoted during 1984 (19 birds)and 1990 (16 birds),years that werebelow average along the coast(three birds in 1984and eightin 1990).

ARIZONA The MagnificentFrigatebird is a rareand irregularsummer visitor to Arizona.Overall, this statehas 44 publishedreports involving 76 birds,with 33 reportstotalling 60 birdscoming from 1977through 1996.Virtually all recordscome from the southeasternquarter of the state(including the Phoenixarea) or the ColoradoRiver north to Davis Dam. The only Arizona recordaway from theseareas comes fromthe Grand Canyon on October8, 1985,but this frigatebird may not have been a Magnificent(G. Rosenberg,pers. comm.). High countsfor Arizonainclude nine east of Phoenixon August11, 1979 (G. Rosenberg,pers. comm.), eight at PaintedRock Reservoir on July Adult male MagnificentFrigatebirds present few easily seen 22, 1979(Monson and Phillips1981), and six at Yumaon July10, field marksto distinguishthem from GreatFrigatebird. Note 1985(G. Rosenberg,pers. comm.). the lackof pale scallopingin the axillarsof this male Magnificent.Other features that are usefulin identifyingmale Arizona frigatebirdrecords fall betweenJune 5 and October13 frigatebirdsare the presenceof a pale alar panelon the upper but are concentratedbetween early July and earlySeptember, with a wingof maleGreats, and foot color:dark gray in Magnificent distinctpeak spanning July. Thus, the timingof Arizonafrigatebirds andpink in Great.Readers should consult Howell (1994) for resemblesthat at the SaltonSea. This similarityin timingimplies a furtherinformation on separationof Magnificentand Great Seaof Cortezrather than Gulf of Mexicoorigin, as one would expect frigatebird.Photograph/Brian E. Small consideringthe relativedistances involved. Arizona has had definiteinvasion years, and thesehave corre- spondedsomewhat with irruptionsinto southernCalifornia. The greatestof suchyears was 1979,with five sightingsof 20 individuals

41G FIELD NOTES FRIGATEBIRD in Arizona and 90 birds in southern California. Furthermore, 1977, MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD RECORDS: 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1992 all had three or more reports from WESTERN NORTH AMERICA*

Arizona,and eachof theseyears, except 1992, were distinctly above Alaska averagein southernCalifornia. ChiniakBay, Kodiak Is? 6/27/84 T. Tobish,pers. comm. MontagueStrait, S. 6/26-6/27/84 T. Tobish,pers. comm. NEVADA Princewilliam Snd? Nevadahas had three frigatebirds, all of whichoccurred in thesouth- MontagueStrait'? __ July1957 Roberson1980 FairweatherBank, 9/16/69 Roberson1980 ernmostpart of thestate along the Colorado River. The records were N. Gulfof Alaska(2)? fromearly or mid-September.It is likely that these birds came up the BelkofskiBay, Alaska Peninsula 8/15/85 AmericanBirds 40:155 Colorado River from the Sea of Cortez. British Columbia BranfieldMarine Station, Vancouver I January1996 R.Toochin, pers. comm. CENTRAL CALIFORNIA ne•arTorino, Vancouver I 8/31-9/14/96 R.Toochin, pers. obs. nearTorino, Vancouver I 7/18/97 R.Toochin, pers. obs. The MagnificentFrigatebird is a rareand irregular summer visitor to CohoePoint, Queen Charlotte Is 8/22-8/25/85 Campbellet al.1990 centralCalifornia, with 55 reportssince 1970, mostly between late SaanichInlet, Vancouver I? 1/7/89 _ Taylor1994 Juneand mid-August (American Birds/Field Notes, vols. 25-51). Mag- 12+reports from Vancouver I nificentFrigatebirds in centralCalifornia occur almost exclusively b•vfisherman? alongthe coast.There are very few records from SanFrancisco Bay Washington andonly two from east of theSierras prior to 1998:one unidentified UmatillaNWR, Benton County 7/1/75 Murrelet57:43•4 __ oncebird at multiple sitesõ: frigatebirdat StovepipeWells, Inyo County,on April 8, 1988(AB Tacoma 10/7-10/8/88 Tweit and Skriletz 1996 42 481), andthe bleachedremains of a Magnificentfound at Mono Point No Point 10/11-10/17/88 Tweit and SkHletz 1996 Lake,Mono County,on July28, 1985(Gaines 1988). During 1998, CopalisRiver mouth _ 10/22/88 Tweitand sk•iletz 1996 therewere three sightings of immaturefrigatebirds on 6 July:one at Tokdand 16/29/88 Tweitand Skriletz 1996 MonoLake, Mono County, one at Diaz Lake, Inyo County, and one at AstoriaBridge 10/31/88 Tweitand Skriletz 1996 TmemahaReservoir, Inyo County(T&J Heindel,pets. comm.). The Oregon total number of individuals involved is not dear, but the Mono Lake CapeArago 2/1/92 AmericanBirds 46:473 __ andTmemaha Reservoir birds were seen simultaneously, and the Diaz CoosBay(immature) 3/7-3/11/87 AmericanBirds41:478 southof Yachats (adult female) 3/4-3/5/87 AmericanBirds 41:478 Lake and Tinemaha birds seemed to have different tail structures. In CannonBeach (adult female) 3/19/87 AmericanBirds 41:478 anycase, there were at least two, and possibly three birds involved. The YaquinaBay _ 8/15-8/20/87 AmericanBirds42:122 InyoCounty birds were identified as Magnificent, whereas the Mono Tillamook 2/18-2/19/35 Roberson 1980 Lakebird isprobably best considered as an unidentified frigatebird at Gold Beach 7/24/79 Roberson1980 thistime (T&JHeindel, pers. comm.). Newportand Florence 7/29/83 Gifiiganet al. 1994 CentralCalifornia has a surprisingpercentage of recordsfrom Portland 6/4/87 Gilliganet al. 1994 __ winterand spring.Nine of the 55 (16%) centralCalifornia records 50miwest of CascadeHead? 8/2/81 Gill/ganet al 1994 Nevada since1970 occurred between December and May, compared with 12 35mibelow Boulder Dam I 9/2/46 Baldwin1947 of 531reports (2%) from southernCalifornia. The reasonfor central Dav•sDam, Lake Mojave 9/3/71 Lawson1973 Cahforniahaving proportionately more recordsfrom winter and Dav/sDam, Lake Mojave _ 9/17/76[ Lawson1977 -- springis not clear, but thisphenomenon persists as one heads further Colorado north alongthe PacificCoast. Chatrield&Green Mountain Res 19/14-9/16/85[ Webb1985 Frigatebirdshave been reported from central California during 17 Arlzona•_ of the last25 years.The maximumwas nine in 1979(AB 33:893; AB 34 195), which also hostedthe biggestinvasion ever recordedin PicachoReservoir 7/4/92 AmericanBirds 46:1161 Painted Rock Dam 7/6/92 AmericanBirds 46:1161 southernCalifornia. The next largesttally, however, was eight in Tucson 7/24/93I AmericanBirds47:1133 nearArivaca (3) 7/21/92 AmericanBirds 46:1161 1993, which was a distinctlybelow averageyear in southern Lake Havasu 7/22/90 AmericanBirds 44:1165• Cahfornia.Overall, the correlationbetween irruptions into southern PicachoReservoir 8/20/90 G. Rosenberg,pers. comm• Cahforniaand central California seems surprisingly poor (see table), Yuma 10/13/90 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. and,while the averageannual count has dropped substantially in Tucson 9/21/88 AmericanBirds 43:1115 southernCalifornia during the lastdecade, it hasremained stable in Yuma 6/5/85 G. Rosenberg,pers. comm. central California. MaderaCanyon (3) 7/6/85 G. Rosenberg,pers. comm. Yuma(6) 7/10/85 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm• (Table continuedon next page.) NORTHERN CALIFORNIA *Records from California and Texas are not listed. Since1974, there have been eleven records of MagnificentFrigatebird ?Thesebirds were not identified specificallyas MagnificentFrigatebirds. from northern California. Ten of these are from the coast (Harris ½TheArizona sightings consist of all published reports, not necessarily confirmed records.Also, many of theArizona birds were notidentified specifically asMagnificent. 1996),with the remainingbird from the interior (McCaskieet al. Indeed,the October 8,1995 bird was photographed and may not be a Magnificent 1988) Nine of the ten recentcoastal records lie betweenJune 5 and (G.Rosenberg, pers. comm.). Also, Menson and Phillips (1981 ) feltthat the 1953 and1962 Arizona records might pertain to Greats,but others have disagreed. September4, with sevenof theseduring July and August (Harris õThisseries of recordsis presumed to representone bird, though that has not been 1996) The one outlyingrecord is of a bird founddead with a few feathersstill attachedat the Eel River estuaryin February1992 (Harris 1996).There is also an older recordfrom early October (Palmer1889). The inland bird was found soaringwith Turkey Vulturesalong the SacramentoRiver at HamiltonCity, Butte/Glenn counties,July 27, 1979(AB 33'893)

VOLUME52 (1998), ISSUE4 417 MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD RECORDS: lateJune and mid-September. There are, however, a surprisingnum- WESTERN NORTH AMERICA* ber of winter and early springsightings from as fir north as the BamfieldMarine Stationon VancouverIsland (R. Toochin,pers Arizona (continuedfrom page417):• GrandCanyon I 10/8/85 G.Rosenberg, pers.comm. comm.),including two each from January and February and two or N. ofEhrenberg 7/2/84 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. three from March. W. ofTucson 10/1/84 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. Notably,there does seem to be a correlationbetween winter fri- SierraVista 8/21/83 ß G.Rosenberg, pets. comm. gatebirdsin the Pacific Northwestand winter sightingsfrom Tucson(2) 7/29/82 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. California.During the last decade,four winters(including March) Tucson 10/7/82 G. Rosenberg,pers. comm. producedrecords from the Northwest.California had frigatebirds CibolaNWR 7/18/80 G. Rosenberg,pers. comm. CibolaNWR (2) 8/4/80 G. Rosenberg,pers. comm. duringthree of thosefour winters.Furthermore, there was but one PaintedRock Dam 8/23/80 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. Californiawinter report from the sixwinters that lackedNorthwest W. ofPheonix 7/8/79 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. records. PaintedRock Res (8) 7/22/79 Monson& Phillips1981 Non-winter recordsfrom the PacificNorthwest correspond CibolaNWR 7/25-7/29/79 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. rather poorlywith invasionsfarther south.Northwest summer/fill PaintedRock Dam 8/9/79 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. records from 1969, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1996, and 1997 did not E. ofPheonix (9) 8/11/79 G. Rosenberg,pers. comm. S.of Ehrenberg 6/30/77 G.Rosenberg, pets. comm. occurduring unusual incursions into California,whereas the major ImperialDam 7/9/77 G.Rosenberg, pers. _comm. irruptionof 1979led to onlyone Northwest record, and the minor CibolaNWR 7/10/77 G.Rosenberg, pets. comm. irruptionsof 1985and 1988brought two andone, respectively LakeHavasu 8/31/77 G.Rosenberg, pets. comm. There are two inland records for the Pacific Northwest. The first nearTacna (4) 9/10/76 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. was eastof the Cascadesalong the ColumbiaRiver at Umatllla DavisDam (also NV) 9/17/76 Monsoon& Phillips 1981 NationalWildlife Refuge, Washington, on luly 1, 1975 (Murrelet W. ofTacna 6/15/75 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. nearYuma 7/26/73 Monson& Phillips1981 57:43-44). The secondbird was closerto the Pacific Ocean at MittryLake, Yuma 7/12/71 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. Portland,Oregon, on June4, 1987(Gilligan et al. 1994). Tucson 9/3/71 Mortson& Phillips1981 Yuma(3) 7/20/68 G.Rosenberg, pets. comm. THE GREAT QUESTION: PicachoReservoir 8/29/62 G.Rosenberg, pers.•comm. ARE ALL FRIGATEBIRDS MAGNIFICENT? LakeHavasu 9/8/55 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. LakeHavasu 8/13/54 G.Rosenberg, pers. comm. TheGreat Frigatebird (Fregata minor) is a widespreadspecies, most- Tumacacori 6/18/53 G.Rosenberg, pets. comm. ly of the tropicalIndian and PacificOceans. Its nearestbreeding New Mexico colonyto the contiguousUnited States is in the IslasRevillaglgedo, LasCruces 2/1/69 Hubbard 1989 Mexico (Howell 1994), which lie well south of southernBala Bitter Lake 10/4-10/6/55 Hubbard 1989 C/iliforniaand slightly more than one thousand miles from San SilverCity 10/1/67 Hubbard1989 LakeMcMifian? 10/5-10/10/88 AmericanBirds 43:149 Diego,California (and about 870 milessouth of Nogales,Arizona) nr Portales 10/13/88 AmericanBirds 43:149 Throughoutthe preceding discussion, there was an implicit assump- Bitter Lake 10/23/88 AmericanBirds 43:149 tion that all of the frigatebirdsinvolved were Magnificent and not Oklahoma Great. There are, however, three confirmed records of Great SaltPlains NWR (2) 9/22/88 AmericanBirds 43:125 Frigatebirdfrom North America:one collectedat Perry,Oklahoma, E.ofOologah ? 9/25/88 AmericanBirds 43:125 November3, 1975 (AOU 1983),an adult male photographedoff NW ofAlva 8/12/33 Baumgartnerand B•. 1992 Anadarko 4/18/36 Sutton 1936 MossLanding, Monterey County, California on October13, 1979 LakeMurray• 9/29/56 B&B1992 (San Miguel and McCaskie,in press),and an immaturepho- LakeTexoma? 6/6/65 Sutton 1967 tographedat the FarallonIslands, California, on March 14, 1992(AB SaltPlains NWR? 8/30-8/31/80 B&B 1992 46:475).Also, there is a photo of a bird at the GrandCanyon, Ransas Arizona,taken on October8, 1985,that waslikely not Magnificent HillCity, Graham County 10/10/88 AmericanBirds43:125 Frigatebird(G. Rosenberg,pets. comm.). Therefore, assuming that Manhattan 10/12/95 Field Notes 50:74 anyNorth American frigatebird is a Magnificentis notwithout risk, OsborneCounty 8/16/1880 KBRCfiles MeadeCounty 6/16/82 KBRCfiles particularlywith anybird seenout of seasonor truly out of range *Records from California and Texas are not listed. Surprisingly,most out-of-range frigatebirds have been identified to ?Thesebirds were not identified specifically a•MagnificentFrigatebirds. speciesby observers.Unfortunately, many frigatebirds at moremun- $TheArizona sightings consist of all published reports, not necessarily confirmed dane locationssuch as Texas,California, and Arizona have not For records.Also, many of the Arizona birds were notidentified specifically asMagnificent. Indeed,the October 8,1995 bird was photographed and may not be a Magnificent an excellenttreatise on Magnificent/Greatfrigatebird identification, (G.Rosenberg, pets. comm.). Also, Mortson and Phillips (1981) felt that the 1953 seeHowell (1994). and1962 Arizona records might pertain to•G•reats, butothers have dis•_ag_reed.__ Lastbut not least,we need to considerthe LesserFrigatebird (Fregataariel). This species has been found once in NorthAmerica at DeerIsle, Maine, on July3, 1960(Snyder 1961). Astonishingly, Lesser Frigatebirdsbreed no closerto Mainethan Trinidade and Martin Vaz PACIFIC NORTHWEST Islandsoff the coastof Brazilmore than four thousandmiles away The PacificNorthwest has 21 or 22 frigatebirdrecords scattered (Harrison1983). In thePacific the nearest colony is at theMarquesas betweensouthern Oregon and the westerntip of the Alaska Islands,roughly three thousand miles from the shoresof southern Peninsula.Of these,nine or ten comefrom Oregon,two comefrom California(Harrison 1983). Thoughthis is quite a distance,the Washington,five comefrom BritishColumbia, and five come from Mainebird suggeststhat the possibilityof a LesserFrigatebird can AlaskaPacific Northwest frigatebirds have been seen mostly between not be completelydiscounted in westernNorth America

418 FIELD NOTES FRIGATEBIRD

SEASONAL FRIGATEBIRD STATUS andJo Heindl, Lloyd Moore, Jerry Oldenettel, Willie Sekula, Thede Tobish, andRick Toochin for helpwith recordsfrom their regions. Birdsidentified as Magnificentonly, post-1969)

EDITOR'S NOTE Byway of coincidence,the summerof 1998saw a notableirruption of MagnificentFrigatebirds on theWest coast with 39 to 40 reported in the SouthernPacific Coast and Middle Pacific Coast regions, as wellas two in southeasternArizona by the endof July.Please see the Jan Feb Mar pertinentregional reports and the PictorialHighlights. Accidental

...... Vet-/rare (lessthan annual, but multiplerecords) LITERATURE CITED -- Rare,but regular AmericanOrnithologists' Union. 1983. The A.O.U. Check-list of NorthAmeri- m Uncommon(more than one or •vo maybe present but missed most days in field in appropriate habitat) canBirds. 6th ed.The American Ornithologists' Union, Lawrence, Kansas • Fairlycommon (somewhat expected but not seen daily in appropriate habitat) Andrews,R., andR. Righter.1992. Colorado Birds. Denver Museum of NaturalHistory, Denver, Colorado. Baldwin,G.C. 1947.New recordsfor the BoulderDam area,Nevada. Condor CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY 49:85. Baumgartner,EM., andA.M. Baumgartner.1992. Oklahoma Bird Life. In westernNorth America,the MagnificentFrigatebird occurs regu- Universityof OklahomaPress, Norman, Oklahoma. larlym coastalTexas and in southernCalifornia and is nearlyannu- Campbell,R.W., N.K. Dawe,I. McTaggart-Cowan,J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, al m Arizona and central California. Elsewhere in the West, this M.C.E.McNall. 1990. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 1. University of speciesoccurs widely as a vagrant,with recordsextending north to BritishColumbia Press,Vancouver, British Columbia. Gaines,D. 1988.B•rds of Yosemite and the East Slope. Artemisia Press, Lee Alaskaalong the coast and as far into theinterior as central Colorado. Vining,California. Within westernNorth America,two main spheresof influence Garrett,K., andJ. Dunn. 1981.Birds of Southern California. Los Angeles seemto exist.The firstis the Gulf of Mexico,which brings birds reg- AudubonSociety, Los Angeles, California. ularlyto the TexasCoast from April to October.Vagrants apparently Gilligan,J., M. Smith,D. Rogers,and A. Contreras,eds. 1994. Birds of from this source have occurred at least as far west as New Mexico, Oregon.Cinclus Publications, McMinnville, Oregon. Harrington,B.A., R.W. Schreiber, and G.E.Woolfenden. 1972. The distribu- with the bulk of suchinland sightings occurring from mid-August tion of maleand female Magnificent Frigatebirds, Fregata magnificens, into late October. alongthe Gulf Coastof Florida.American Birds 26:927-931. The second source is the Sea of Cortez/Pacific Ocean. Birds from Harris,S.W. 1996. Northwestern California Birds, 2nd ed. Humboldt State thesemore westerly populations occur annually in smallbut variable UniversityPress, Arcata, California. Harrison,P. 1983.Seabirds. Houghton Mifflin Company,Boston, numbersin coastalsouthern California and at theSalton Sea. During Massachusetts. mostyears, a bird or two maybe foundin Arizonaand north into Howell,S.N.G. 1994. Magnificent and Great frigatebirds in the eastern coastalcentral California. Frigatebirds in thesemore westerly areas Pacific.Birding 26:400-415. occurlargely from late Junethrough mid-September, with a distinct Howell,S.N.G., and S. Webb. 1995. A Guideto theBirds of Mexico and NorthernCentral America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. peakduring July and early August. Year-to-year fluctuations in thefar Hubbard,J.P. 1989. The fall season:New Mexico.American Birds West can be dramatic and often do not affect all locations. Birds like- 43:148-151. ly originatingin the PacificOcean/Sea of Cortezhave occurred as far Lawson, C.S. 1973. Notes on Pelecaniformes in Nevada. WesternBirds north as Alaska and as far inland as Colorado. 4:23-30. Lawson,C.S. 1977.Non-passerine species new or unusualto Nevada. The factorsleading to frigatebirdvagrancy and irruptionsin Western Birds 8:73-90. western North America are not at all clear. Some unusual incursions McCaskie,G. 1970.The occurrencesof four speciesof Pelecaniformesin the and recordscan be clearlyassociated with specifichurricanes, but southwestern United States. Western Birds 1:117-142. otherscannot. Frigatebirds are known to relyheavily on soaringand McC•skie,G. 1983.Another look at theWestern and Yellow-footed gulls. glidingfor travelinglong distances, and such movements seem to be Western Birds 14:85-107. McCaskie,G., P. De Benedictis,R. Erickson,and J. Morlan. 1988. Birds of significantlyaffected by wind speedand direction (Harrington et al. NorthernCalifornia, 2nd ed. Golden Gate Audubon Society, Berkeley, 1972) Thus,future detailed analysis of windpatterns and frigatebird California. recordsmay well lead to a morecomplete explanation. Other factors, Oberholser,H.C. 1974.The Bird Life of Texas.The University of TexasPress, suchas water temperature, may be involved,but the mostdramatic Austin, Texas. of these,E1 Nifio and La Nifia, seemto have no correlation(S. Palmer,T.S. 1889. Notes on the occurrenceof Fregataaquila, Clangula hye- malis,and Oceanodromafurcam on the coastof northernCalifornia. Feldstein,pers. comm.). ProceedingsCalifornia Academy Sciences, Series 2.2: 87-88. MagnificentFrigatebirds are aptlynamed birds with a penchant Roberson,D. 1980.Rare Birds of theWest Coast. Woodcock Publications, for wandering.Unusual records will likelycontinue to accrue,bring- Pacific Grove, California. mg joy to observersand addingmore piecesto the status-and- SanMiguel, M., and G. McCaskie.In press.Fourteenth Report of the California Bird Records Committee. Western Birds. distributionpuzzle. Also, observers should not be satisfiedwith just Snyder,D.E. 1961.First record of the LeastFrigate-bird (Fregata ariel) identifyinga frigatebirdbut shouldidentify which frigatebird. Future in North America. Auk 78:265. recordsof Great, and maybeeven LesserFrigatebird, could well Sutton,G.M. 1936. Man-o'-War-bird in Oklahoma. Auk 53:438. delightus. Sutton,G.M. 1967.Oklahoma Birds. University of OkalahomaPress, Norman, Oklahoma. Taylor,K. 1994.Birder's Guide to VancouverIsland, 4th ed.Keith Taylor Bird ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FindingGuides, Victoria, British Columbia. Greatthanks are due to StevenFeldstein, Greg Lasley, Guy McCaskie, Joe Tweit,B., and J. Skriletz. 1996. Second report of theWashington Bird Mofian,Gary Rosenberg, and Terry Wahl for theirsuperb critiques of an earherversion of thismanuscript. Their tolerance of my frequentrequests Webb,B. 1985.Against all odds:first record of a Magnificent for •nformationis muchappreciated Also, thanks to JoeGrzybowski, Tom RecordsFrigatebirdCommittee.in ColoradoWashingtonCFO JournalBirds5:7-28.19.94-96 •

VOLUNE5;' (1998), ISSUE4 419