11 Sept 2012 -FRIGATEBIRDS ATTACK SEAGULLS AT DEADMAN'S BAY, PETER ISLAND, BVI's

Ana and I are as usual loving it here at Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands.

Before we show you our pictures of the frigatebirds attacking seagulls, I would like to mention some fun we had with one family who live on Peter Island today.

A few days ago, on the Fehrsen's boat, Champolion, we met a South African who manages the entire island's water and electrical resources as well as his German wife who is a physiotherapist on Tortola. Chris and Joules have two young children.

Today we had the pleasure of entertaining the family on board Impi which involved a lot of swimming, diving off Impi and taking the dingy across to Deadman's Chest.

Of course I delighted in telling the kids all about the days of the pirates and the men who had been placed on Deadman's Chest those years ago .... they are at that impressionable age where I noticed their eyes growing wider and wider as we approached Deadman's Chest ... the little one gripped the side rail of the dingy tightly with his hands and I could observe a quiver in his feet as I suggested there may still be an old pirate lurking around between the bushes ... 'Boys', I called out as we approached 'Now we will be having to keep an eye out for a tall pirate wearing a black pirate hat, a black eye patch over his removed eye, a bright parrot on his shoulder and limping along on a wooden leg'.

Of course there was a bewildered look on the young boys faces as they slinked deeper into the dingy and peered over the rail hoping not to be seen but yet to see!

As we neared the shore, I tucked up into the bay and shut down the engine ...'Now boys, right here is where the legendary pirate, Black Beard stopped his tall wooden sailing ship and commanded fifteen rebellious men overboard, and boys, look ... those rocks over there are the rocks where the men had to climb from the sea shore onto land ...' and so I went on and watched as the boys starred out in fascination gripped by the truth of my story telling!

and then I would chant that famous pirate chant which of course comes from this occasion in the days of old:

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chestYo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!Drink and the devil had done for the restYo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

The boys asked me to fire up the engine and keep it running ...'Just in-case we needed a quick getaway' ... Of course Chris was having a good chuckle as his boys had moved their minds into the world of pirates and had found themselves for real in a dream. Chris and I shook at the petrol tank in the dingy and discussed it being on empty ... Uh Oh, the boys were not too amused by the suggestion that we may have to sleep on Deadman's Chest or row to Deadman's Bay ...

Eventually it was time to head back to Impi ... the boys were excited and kept pleading with me to please tell them the story again, and again, and again ...

We had had a great time and eventually it was time to bid them farewell!

Gareth and Jenna had arrived in the bay with new charter crew members who take over their boat, Seth and Jamie from Canada. (Gareth and Jenna are moving to a bigger vessel). They are doing an 'orientation sailing week' together to familiarize them with the charter routes and anchorages in the BVI's. We have had the opportunity to spend a few evenings with Seth and Jamie back in Wickham Cay on Tortola ... what a lovely couple!

We arrived and had a drink and chat with them before returning to Impi ... what a stunning evening it has been!

Anyway, I don't want to bore you with the 'everyday life' as we currently experience it here in our favorite BVI bay, Deadman's Bay ... I actually wanted to share some photographs I took of frigatebirds which dived and attacked seagulls right alongside our boat yesterday ...

So here is the story:

Ana and I were settling in for a beautiful afternoon on board Impi here at Deadman's Bay.
There was not another boat to be seen and we quite literally had the entire place to ourselves ... it was beautiful!

The water was crystal clear ... there was not a ripple to be seen and the air was deathly quiet!

I watched as a number of small fish skipped along the waters surface being chased by larger fish, the sun was dipping toward a beautiful sunset and the seagulls arrived diving into the water right alongside Impi to fill their bellies.

Ana and I had emerged on the deck to watch the commotion when all of a sudden a massive Frigate Bird swooped down between the seagulls causing chaos.

I turned around to capture its image which was rather difficult to do as it dropped at high speed and had the sun behind it ... not a perfect photo but you get the idea ...

Due to poor light conditions and poor photo quality I suggest you click on the photo to enlarge:

This was a male frigate known as 'Magnificent Frigatebird' ... it's wing span can get up to 3 m in length and these birds have the longest wing to body weight ratio of any other bird in the world!

The frigate cannot swim and does not land on water but simply scoops up fish or terrorizes other birds into regurgitating their food in mid air where they then eat it! Charming ...

The male frigate (also known as 'Man of war bird' and / or Pirate bird) has a large red gular pouch under its beak extending down the throat. It puffs this up during mating season to attract the females. I was really happy to be able to photograph the bird with its red pouch since this is the first time Ana and I had seen one expose it.

Before long, we had observed a female frigatebird which had been circling above and was swooping in to join in on the hunt

The female frigate has a white throat and breast and is usually larger than the male bird, although in this instance the male seemed the larger of the two.

Ana and I were amazed as these birds dived down and soared within meters of us aggressively terrorizing the seagulls to 'give up their food'

The male and female frigates set themselves up to terrorize seagulls

In this pic a male frigate is maneuvering about a seagull 

At great speed the female swoops down from behind the seagull and pecks hard at it

The momentum flings the female frigate over the top of the seagull but does not let go

Eventually the seagull frees as it looses its feathers which are still clasped in the frigates beak

The female flies on as feathers fall out of the sky .. bottom left ... note some seagull feathers

It seemed to us the seagulls did not stand a chance ... I mean can you imagine a seagull fighting off a bird which carries up to 3m length wingspan?

However, the seagulls eventually got mad at this and started to retaliate

The air was a buzz of activity and noise ... it was incredible to be seeing all this going on right in front of our eyes.

The frigates continued flying about Impi whilst I took some more photographs:

 and more:

and more:

Eventually the two frigates decided to head off into the sunset together ...

It had been a great day for us ... and as the sun dropped its brow and slid behind the horizon of time, Ana and I sat on board Impi with a drink in hand excitedly discussing all the activity we had seen. Ana could not stop talking about the size of these birds ... the massive wingspans as they soared meters from us ... the sound of air flaring from their wings, the screeching seagulls and flying feathers ... it was truly another magnificent day in nature ... another magnificent day in Deadmans' Bay off Peter Island!