Genovesa Island
The last day of the month for us! Meanwhile the living islands keep to their own tempo. The great frigatebird males are gearing up for the courtship battle of the pouches while the females cast discerning eyes down from above on the local real estate. Location, location, location. It all looks acceptable and attractive to me, but then, I’m no frigate female looking for a good home on the greening salt bushes and Palo Santos of Genovesa Island. One week has made a tremendous difference from dry and leafless to verdant green. As difficult to imagine as it is, nesting material is hard to come by. Everyone wants new, unused twigs (sound familiar?). Old, fallen, guano-covered sticks are unacceptable. But the grass is always greener on the other side, and that goes for nesting material as well. As a frigatebird, one has to be careful when building a nest within beak-reach of one’s neighbor. Then again, it could come in handy at times. A quick snitch when the next-door frigate snoozes off for a moment might fill in a gap in one’s own nest, perhaps created when one’s neighbor caught oneself napping in turn. This great frigatebird is taking the time and effort to precisely preen each green-hued feather, preparing his appearance to offer up the most attractive image to the critical gaze of the over-flying females.
The last day of the month for us! Meanwhile the living islands keep to their own tempo. The great frigatebird males are gearing up for the courtship battle of the pouches while the females cast discerning eyes down from above on the local real estate. Location, location, location. It all looks acceptable and attractive to me, but then, I’m no frigate female looking for a good home on the greening salt bushes and Palo Santos of Genovesa Island. One week has made a tremendous difference from dry and leafless to verdant green. As difficult to imagine as it is, nesting material is hard to come by. Everyone wants new, unused twigs (sound familiar?). Old, fallen, guano-covered sticks are unacceptable. But the grass is always greener on the other side, and that goes for nesting material as well. As a frigatebird, one has to be careful when building a nest within beak-reach of one’s neighbor. Then again, it could come in handy at times. A quick snitch when the next-door frigate snoozes off for a moment might fill in a gap in one’s own nest, perhaps created when one’s neighbor caught oneself napping in turn. This great frigatebird is taking the time and effort to precisely preen each green-hued feather, preparing his appearance to offer up the most attractive image to the critical gaze of the over-flying females.
