Almost certainly a frigate bird. Here's a link to some pictures: http://www.oceanlight.com/lightbox.php?cs=-148.
I've put in a lot of hours on the water in Cozumel and other tropical fishing hotspots, and they're pretty common. Fisherman love them because they're much better than we are at finding fish. Frigate birds are amazing. They are very good thermallers. I can only assume that thermals are generated offshore by sea surface temperature variations, because I've spent many hours watching them speck out 20 miles offshore. In Central America, it's called a tijereta. Frank -----Original Message----- From: Oscar Taboada [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 8:42 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [RCSE] what bird could it be? Hi, I guess it is not off topic because it is a about a wonderfull marine soaring bird, I have the oportunity to watch this bird in Cozumel (mexican caribe) for many hours and days, It was ammazing how eficcient would it be flying against the wind about 200 meters from the beach (in the ocean) I guess this bird was not thermaling because was not flying in circles, but there were absolutly nothing to create a slope wind current and almost never you can see this bord moving their wings I have tried unsuccesfully to identify this bird on many birds site, maybe somebody here can suggest what bord could it be the size is quite bigger than a seagull and I can bet it is not a seagull or alabtroos, of course it is not a pelikan, please take a look at the fiollowing frontal and top view thanks and brgrds frontal view /\ /\ / \ ______ / \ / \ / \ / \ __________________________/ \______|body |______/ \_____________________ \_______/ Top view note that the tail is not the same length for both sides | / \ / \ / \ /\ / \ /\ / \ | | / \ / \ | | / \ __________________________/ \______|body |______/ \_____________________ | | | | | | | | | | \ / \ / \ / \ / / \ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \ // / / / / / RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
