Frigate Bird

While some people consider this Frigate Bird as a magnificent one, I personally do not like it. Not that my perspective matters but I also hope that at least 40% of my readers would also find this bird a little strange (if ugly is not the appropriate word).

The frigate birds are a family of seabirds and are also called frigate pelicans. It can be found breeding along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and in the Corcovado National Park.

They have long wings, tails and bills and the males have a red pouch that is inflated during the breeding season to attract a mate. Females are black, but have a white breast and lower neck sides, a brown band on the wings and a blue eye ring. The Frigate bird is 1m long with a 2.15m wingspan.

They lack the ability to take off from water so they snatch prey from the ocean surface or beach using their long, hooked bills. Frigate birds are seasonally monogamous which means they only mate with one female per season. They also nest as a colony. They lay one or two white eggs. Both parents take turns feeding for the first three months but then only the mother feeds the young for another eight months.

Ugly Animals - Frigate Bird

California Condor

The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is the largest terrestrial bird in North America. It is black in color and sports a bald head with very few feathers. The color of the head varies from white to reddish purple. The bare head is an adaptation for hygiene since they eat dead and rotting meat and must, for the most part, stick their heads into the carcasses to feed.

The California Condor has a body length of 43 - 52 inches, a wingspan up to 9 1/2 feet, and weighs 18 - 23 pounds. Condors mostly consume carrion (dead animal carcasses). They prefer the carcasses of large dead animals like deer, cattle, and sheep; however, they are also known to eat the carcasses of smaller animals like rodents and rabbits.

Condors nest in a cave or cleft among boulders on a cliff or hillside. The female will lay the single egg directly on the floor of the cave. The egg is incubated for 54 - 58 days. The young condor learns to fly in about 6 months, but will stay with its parents for several more months. The extended breeding season prevents condors from breeding yearly. California Condors usually become sexually mature at 6 years of age.

California Condors are social birds and they spend a great deal of time feeding and roosting together.

Ugly Animals - California Condor