Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor) - BirdLife species factsheet

Great Frigatebird Fregata minor

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Least Concern
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	126,000,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	170,000,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	120000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2002
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	16.6 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number 120,000 mature individuals (Kushlan et al. 2002).

Trend justification: The population is undergoing a small decline (Kushlan et al. 2002, Partners in Flight 2019), which is thought to be caused by climate change and human disturbance.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor
American Samoa	extant	native	yes
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	native			yes
Australia	extant	native	yes
Brazil	extant	native	yes
British Indian Ocean Territory	extant	native	yes
Brunei	extant	native	yes
Cambodia	extant	uncertain
Chile	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes
Christmas Island (to Australia)	extant	native	yes
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (to Australia)	extant	native		yes
Colombia	extant	native	yes
Comoros	extant	native	yes
Cook Islands	extant	uncertain
Costa Rica	extant	native	yes
Ecuador	extant	native	yes
El Salvador	extant	uncertain
Fiji	extant	native			yes
French Polynesia	extant	native	yes
French Southern Territories	extant	uncertain
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Guatemala	extant	uncertain
High Seas	extant	native			yes
India	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native	yes
Japan	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Kiribati	extant	uncertain
Madagascar	extant	native	yes
Malaysia	extant	native	yes
Maldives	extant	native	yes
Marshall Islands	extant	native		yes
Mauritius	extant	vagrant			yes
Mayotte (to France)	extant	native	yes
Mexico	extant	native	yes
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native		yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Nauru	extant	native			yes
New Caledonia (to France)	extant	native	yes
New Zealand	extant	vagrant			yes
Nicaragua	extant	uncertain
Niue (to New Zealand)	extant	uncertain
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	vagrant			yes
Palau	extant	native		yes
Panama	extant	vagrant			yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	uncertain
Philippines	extant	native	yes
Pitcairn Islands (to UK)	extant	uncertain
Réunion (to France)	extant	native		yes
Samoa	extant	uncertain
Seychelles	extant	native		yes
Solomon Islands	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native	yes
St Helena (to UK)	extant	uncertain
Taiwan, China	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Thailand	extant	native	yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native			yes
Tokelau (to New Zealand)	extant	uncertain
Tonga	extant	native
Tuvalu	extant	uncertain
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Vanuatu	extant	native	yes
Vietnam	extant	uncertain
Wallis and Futuna Islands (to France)	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	vagrant			yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Christmas Island (to Australia)	Christmas Island
Indonesia	Pulau Manuk
Kiribati	Malden Island
Kiribati	Malden Island Marine
Kiribati	Millenium (Caroline) Island
Kiribati	Millenium (Caroline) Island Marine
Kiribati	Vostok Island
Kiribati	Vostok Island Marine
Marshall Islands	Bokak Atoll
Marshall Islands	Bokak Atoll Marine
Seychelles	Aldabra Special Reserve
USA	Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	major	resident
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	resident
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	major	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	major	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	major	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	major	resident
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	major	resident
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	resident
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 150 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Climate change & severe weather

Temperature extremes

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Indirect ecosystem effects, Reduced reproductive success

Human intrusions & disturbance

Recreational activities