Frigatebird

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Mary Kay Waddington

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Nov 6, 2020, 12:22:11 AM11/6/20

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Just for a little historical reference -- there was a Frigatebird 20 some years ago at Dillon Reservoir. It "attacked" a windsurfer (I really don't know what "attacked" means here) and the windsurfer threw a rock at it and broke its wing. I was lucky enough to be able to skin it for the museum, and I remember a couple things. First of all, the stomach was completely empty -- not too many squid found in Dillon Reservoir. And second, there was an obvious brain lesion. So the bird was obviously going to die anyway with no food source available, and it's possible that the brain lesion caused something to go screwy with its navigational capabilities. (I have absolutely no expertise here, so that's just my wild guess.)

So it's hard to believe this bird will survive either. If anybody finds it dead somewhere, be sure to save it for the museum!

Mary Kay Waddington (Arapahoe County)

Mary Kay Waddington

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Nov 6, 2020, 10:22:48 AM11/6/20

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Thank you Peter Gent for correcting me. The earlier Frigatebird was Green Mountain Reservoir, not Dillon, and it was in September of 1985. I should have checked the records rather than my memory!