MOURC Proceedings Archive - Frigatebirds Accepted
Duplicates
This is the 1981 to present Records Committee Proceedings archive for
The Loon, journal of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.
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Proceedings
Species: Frigatebirds
[Fregata frigatebird]
Magnificent Frigatebird

Magnificent Frigatebird (A) (Fregata magnificens)Start Date 0000-00-00
RefFirstLastLocationCounty23CommentStatus
62:121988-09-22Itasca State Park Clearwater(vote 7-3, with 10-0 required for acceptance). Since so many extralimital frigatebirds were seen about this time as a result of Hurricane Gilbert, it was unanimously believed the observers actually saw a frigatebird. However, the description submitted was, unfortunately, too sketchy for everyone to accept. The description only included that it "looked like a kite at first," that it had a "long slender scissor tail ," and that it was "entirely black with a red pouch under its all white bill." The details were good enough to convince the majority, but the minority felt a better description was necessary for such an unusual record . Recirculated
65:331988-09-22Lake ItascaClearwater(vote 10-0). (All ten members vote on potential first state records; this record had previously been voted on and found unacceptable see The Loon 62:13). Recirculated
79:501988-09-22Itasca State ParkClearwater(record #2006-098, Not Accepted as Magnificent Frigatebird 2–8, Accepted as Fregata vote 10–0). Not Accepted
193:31988-09-22Clearwater (record #2006-098, vote 7–0). Adult male. Initially not accepted as a Magnificent Frigatebird but accepted at the genus level (The Loon 62:13). Next, this record was discussed again and by a 9–1 vote was accepted as a Magnificent Frigatebird (The Loon 65:33). This record was voted on a third time and not accepted as a Magnificent Frigatebird by a 2–8 vote, but was accepted as Frigata sp. (The Loon 79:55). Gauger-Metz and Schreiber (2002) say a male Great Frigatebird (F. minor) is “almost entirely black” and also state that its red gular sac “deflates, shrinks, and fades to pale orange soon after pairing.” Since they also state that “displaying begins December, peaks between late December and April, and usually ceases by May,” it seems unlikely that the Clearwater bird could reasonably have been this species since the gular sac was both evident and red in late September. And while Diamond and Schreiber (2002) say essentially the same thing for Magnificent Frigatebird, “gular sac becomes bright red and is inflated like a large balloon during courtship displays and early incubation period, but becomes pale orange and shrinks to become barely visible at other times of the year” note that this species' breeding season is seasonally different with courtship beginning in early September and peaking in October (most eggs laid from about late October through mid January, though eggs can be in the nest as early as mid September). Indeed, one might expect an adult male Magnificent Frigatebird to show a red gular sac in late September. Many Committee members now believe the Great Frigatebird should virtually be discounted in evaluating Minnesota frigatebird records because there is only a single inland North American record from Oklahoma which was an anomalous sick, injured, and parasitized bird found on a building rooftop. Lesser Frigatebird (F. ariel) can be clearly eliminated because all age/sex plumage variations show some white. This bird was described as “entirely black with a red pouch under its all white bill.”

Accepted
61:101988-10-01Acacia CemeteryDakota(vote 10-0;). All ten members vote in cases of potential first state records. Recirculated
79:501988-10-01Acacia CemeteryDakota(record #2006-099, Not Accepted as Magnificent Frigatebird 3–7, Accepted as Fregata vote 10–0). For both of these records, the written descriptions did not eliminate the possibility of Great Frigatebird (F. minor) (Howell 1994); though unlikely, minor has been documented in Oklahoma (Tomer et al. 1996). The Committee had previously accepted these two records as magnificens based on probability, an argument that was weakened by the subsequent occurrences of Lesser Frigatebird (F. ariel) in Big Horn County, Wyoming, 11 July 2003 (Faulkner 2006) and Wayne County, Michigan, 11 September 2005 (Brennan and Schultz 2006). Not Accepted
290:831988-10-01Acacia Park CemeteryDakota(as record #1988-001, vote 6–1). Adult, male. This is the first of a series of Fregata sp. records to be reviewed. Originally, this record was unanimously accepted as a Fregata then with a majority vote as a Magnificent Frigatebird (The Loon 61:11, 62:12). Subsequently, the record was reconsidered and reclassified as Fregata sp. (it was then cited as record #2006099; vote: as Magnificent Frigatebird 3–7, Accepted as Fregata sp. 10–0). (The Loon 61:11). The arguments for this reclassification were based upon the occurrence of a single sighting of a seriously injured parasitized Great Frigatebird (F. minor) in Oklahoma on 11 November 1975 (Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society June 1977) and upon two inland sightings of Lesser Frigatebirds (F. ariel) in Wyoming (11 July 2003) and Michigan (11 September 2005). After discussion at two MOURC meetings on 3 December 2017 and 19 August 2018, the Committee decided to again reconsider the record due to new information in the literature not previously available when the record was re-examined in 2006. Finally, after its second reconsideration, the record was Accepted. Reasons for acceptance were focused on the original, contemporaneous field notes; the study of the path of Hurricane Gilbert and its unprecedented plethora of fallout of frigatebirds (none was identified as Great Frigatebirds) records in the Midwest; and the new illustrations of frigatebirds in the literature. All ages and sexes of Lesser Frigatebird should have shown white in the plumage which the field notes of this record specifically state was absent. Accepted
MOU1988-10-01Acacia CemeteryDakotaThe Loon 61:55Duplicate
61:55-561989indexA Frigatebird in Minnesota
78:402005-09-192005-09-21Big Lake off Echo TrailSt. Louis(record #2005-064, vote 2–5; subsequently Accepted as Fregata vote 7–0). The documentation clearly depicted a female frigatebird, but there were discrepancies between the sketch (black throat) and written description (white throat). The exact shape and extent of white on the breast was unclear. These seemingly minor points are critical for the elimination of certain age/sex classes of the Great Frigatebird (F. minor) and Lesser Frigatebird (F. ariel), both of which have been reported in the interior of North America. Not Accepted
380:52007-09-02along north shore of Spirit LakeJackson(record #2007-056, vote 10–0). Excellent photographs and thorough written documentation ruled out other frigatebird species. First state record, following three records of Fregata sp. The Loon 80:106–107Accepted
avian
information
2007-09-02Jackson9/2 Jackson (first state record) (first county record)
An adult female photographed 9/2 in Jackson (Spirit L., ph. †SJD, ph. †JGi, †ETh) was the first confirmed record of this species in Minnesota (The Loon 80:106–107), following three prior records of the Fregata genus: 2 individuals in 1988 and another in 2005.
80:1062008indexFirst Definitive Record of a Magnificent Frigatebird for Minnesota
 
 Two fall records (1988, 2007). Three additional fall records of Fregata sp.

Notes:

The information in the above table comes from several different sources. The count in column 1 indicates which of the sources is considered the primary source.
'Accepted' MOURC entries from The MOURC Proceedings
'Not Accepted' or 'Rejected' MOURC entry from The MOURC Proceedings
Accepted MOU records assembled by David Cahlander
Sighting records for ()
Avian information from the occurrence maps, in dark red, assembled by Robert Janssen. Seasonal report for the species/season published in The Loon or The Flicker has been added.
Information from The Loon index assembled by Anthony Hertzel and David Cahlander