Editing Frigatebird (section)

===Breeding behaviour===
{{See also|Seabird breeding behavior}}
[[File:Fregata magnificens -Galapagos, Ecuador -male-8.jpg|thumb|right|Magnificent frigatebird male breeding display]]
Frigatebirds typically breed on remote oceanic islands, generally in colonies of up to 5000 birds. Within these colonies, they most often nest in groups of 10 to 30 (or rarely 100) individuals.<ref name=obrien/> Breeding can occur at any time of year, often prompted by commencement of the dry season or plentiful food.<ref name=hbwFregatidae/>

Frigatebirds have the most elaborate mating displays of all seabirds. The male birds take up residence in the colony in groups of up to thirty individuals.<ref name=hbwFregatidae/> They display to females flying overhead by pointing their bills upwards, inflating their red throat pouches and vibrating their outstretched wings, showing the lighter wing undersurfaces in the process. They produce a drumming sound by vibrating their bills together and sometimes give a whistling call.<ref name=obrien/> The female descends to join a male she has chosen and allows him to take her bill in his. The pair also engages in mutual "head-snaking".<ref name=hbwFregatidae/>

After copulation it is generally the male who gathers sticks and the female that constructs the loosely woven nest. The nest is subsequently covered with (and cemented by) [[guano]]. Frigatebirds prefer to nest in trees or bushes, though when these are not available they will nest on the ground. A single white egg that weighs up to 6–7% of mother's body mass is laid, and is [[Egg incubation|incubated]] in turns by both birds for 41 to 55 days. The [[altricial]] chicks are naked on hatching and develop a white down. They are continuously guarded by the parents for the first 4–6 weeks and are fed on the nest for 5–6 months.<ref name=obrien/> Both parents take turns feeding for the first three months, after which the male's attendance trails off leaving the mother to feed the young for another six to nine months on average.<ref name=hbwFregatidae/> The chicks feed by reaching their heads in their parents' throat and eating the part-regurgitated food. It takes so long to rear a chick that frigatebirds generally breed every other year.<ref name=obrien/>
[[File:Seabird colony.JPG|thumb|right|Seabird colony with great frigatebirds, [[red-tailed tropicbird]], [[red-footed booby|red-footed boobies]], sooty terns and [[black noddy|black noddies]], French Frigate Shoals]]
The duration of parental care in frigatebirds is among the longest for birds, rivalled only by the [[southern ground hornbill]] and some large [[Accipitridae|accipitrids]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Skutch |first1=Alexander Frank |last2=Gardner |first2=Dana (illustrator) |year=1987 |title=Helpers at Birds' Nests : a worldwide survey of cooperative breeding and related behaviour |pages=[https://archive.org/details/helpersatbirdsne00skut_0/page/69 69–71] |place=Iowa City |publisher=University of Iowa Press |isbn=0-87745-150-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/helpersatbirdsne00skut_0/page/69 }}</ref> Frigatebirds take many years to reach sexual maturity. A study of great frigatebirds in the Galapagos Islands found that they only bred once they have acquired the full adult plumage. This was attained by female birds when they were eight to nine years of age and by male birds when they were ten to eleven years of age.<ref name=valle>{{cite journal | last1=Valle | first1=Arlos A. | last2=de Vries | first2=Tjitte | last3=Hernández | first3=Cecilia  | year=2006 | title=Plumage and sexual maturation in the Great frigatebird ''Fregata minor'' in the Galapagos Islands | journal=Marine Ornithology | volume=34 | pages=51–59 | url=http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/34_1/34_1_51-59.pdf }}</ref>