Date: 5/25/26 12:40 am From: condor262001 via groups.io <condor262001...> Subject: Re: [OrangeCountyBirding] Frigatebird eye color
Hi Tom,
While Mark and Chris’ images on the link are excellent wrt identifying the bird as a Lesser I would be hard pressed to agree that they show a red eyeing. It could be there on Mark’s original but they dont show up on my screen.
Since this afternoon I have spent considerable time with my reference books and ebird convincing myself on the Lesser ID, which I think is correct. I will have to say that the best reference book is one by Peter Harrison that shows all five Frigatebirds and seems to show proper illustrations of each species.
The San Clemente bird showed a clear white collar very prominent in Mark’s images. That eliminates Magnificent, Great, and Ascension. That is not the usual ID though as the bird is often not seen from above. The other definitive ID is the white triangular armpit. That is not seen on the Great and Magnificent. Mark and Chis’ images show that as does the only one of mine that I processed.
That leave the Christmas Island Frigatebird that does have an armpit and a collar (although in Harrison it is only partial). But the Christmas Island Frigatebird has much less black on the belly than the Lesser. So everything agrees with a Lesser ID without a need to resort to the eyeing.
By the way the San Clemente Lesser looks very much like the 2025 San Diego bird but also like an Indonesian observation on ebird
