Greater Frigatebird male

Seabird Sanctuary
April 2012

Did you see any wild frigate birds while you were in Oahu?

Yes, one. I had just left this park and was in the carpark. I'd put my DSLR with the zoom lens away and had walked up to the main entrance (100 metres or so away) to get some photos of the entrance with my IXUS. After taking the pics I loked up and saw a frigate bird flying my way - its path was going to take iit directly over the carpark, and it was reasonably low (but not low enough for the IXUS). I raced back to the car but by the time I got the DSLR out it had passed overhead and was disappearing into the sun. Very pissed off.

And two days ago, here in Niue, I was driving along one of the coast roads that is a short distance from the coastline of 25 metre high limestone cliffs. Between the road and the cliffs is dense vegetation. At one spot someone had cleared the vegetation to build a house (or a taro garden) and as I drove past I saw a Frigatebird flying parallel with me over the coastline. I sped up hoping to get to another clearing and have my camera ready but the next clearing was a kilometre further down the road and the bird never showed. Disappointed again, but this is the first frigate I've seen in Niue, so was pretty happy with the sighting, no matter how brief.

Thanks Hix, I myself am traveling to Oahu in the near future and hope to add a few seabirds to my life list.

If you need red-footed boobies, rehabbed birds that have been released come back to nest there.

Of course, $31 is a lot to pay for just a booby .....



Hix

No price is too high for the next tick on the list!