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SWOOP – and it's gone. Hawaiians call the frigatebird "iwa", meaning thief. The metre-long bird evolved not only to hunt the seas, but to steal from those that do. Here one acrobatically grabs a piece of fish offal from the gaping jaws of a pelican.
Wildlife photographer Michael Poliza snapped this photo of a frigatebird living up to its Hawaiian name off the Galapagos Islands in October. "We were at anchor and local fishermen were offering their catch," Poliza recalls. "They were cleaning the fish and all kinds of birds were coming by. The pelican was able to scoop up this fish. As he's trying to swallow – which the pelican does by opening up his mouth and jiggling around a bit – the frigatebird comes by and scoops the fish out of the pelican's mouth, perfectly timed."
This sense of timing helps the frigatebird to catch its other favoured prey, flying fish. Frigatebirds can't waterproof their feathers, so they accomplish all this without ever touching the water, relying on agile flying.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Stop thief!"
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