The Fabulous Flying Frigate
It is puzzling to this child why a bird shares a name with a medium-sized warship. While some pirates used frigates, they had smaller crews and preferred smaller vessels. Those imposing galleons in pirate movies? Fuggedaboudit!
One thing in keeping with a pirate theme is that, like pirates, frigatebirds are opportunists. A flying fish escapes sharks but becomes lunch for the frigatebird. It also steals food from other birds.
There are several species of frigatebirds, the largest is the magnificent and the smallest is lesser (which still has an impressive body length). The object of our interest today is the great frigatebird. It has several features that affirm intelligent design and challenge Darwin's disciples.
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| Great Frigatebird, Flickr / Makuahine Pa'i Ki'i (CC BY 2.0) |
We know of several birds that can fly tremendous distances (such as the arctic tern and the albatross), but this bad boy excels. It seems to shun land and can stay aloft for weeks. This bird's body weight is conducive to its lifestyle, and actually sleeps in the air with a kind of divided mind principle. Scientists are puzzled how it manages, though, because it apparently gets very little.
When they decide to reach land, they snooze for about twelve hours. The male puffs out his red throat sac and shakes his head because chicks dig it. Evolutionists need to satisfy inquiring minds with more than just, "It evolved" or invoking the Stuff Happens Law. Clearly, this bird is another example of the genius of the Master Engineer and fits nicely with biblical creation science models.
Great frigatebirds’ huge size belies their low weight. Their bodies are up to 3.4 feet (105 cm) long, and their wingspans stretch an incredible 7.5 feet (230 cm), yet they weigh less than 4 pounds (1.8 kg). This ratio of weight to wing area (known as wing loading in “bird speak”) is the lowest of any bird’s. If a fair breeze is blowing, all they need to do is open their wings and . . . they’re aloft! Frigatebirds in flight are unmistakable; their forked tails and long, narrow wings give them a distinctive streamlined appearance.
To read all of this fun article or listen to the audio, visit "Prepared for Perpetual Flight."