Sadhus (Hindu ascetics) still meditate beneath sacred fig trees, and Hindus do pradakshina (circumambulation, or meditative pacing) around the sacred fig tree as a mark of worship. Usually seven pradakshinas are done around the tree in the morning time chanting "vriksha rajaya namah", meaning "salutation to the king of trees". It is claimed that the 27 stars (constellations) constituting 12 houses (rasis) and 9 planets are specifically represented precisely by 27 trees—one for each star. The Bodhi Tree is said to represent Pushya (Western star name γ, δ and θ Cancri in the Cancer constellation).
Plaksa is a possible Sanskrit term for Ficus religiosa. However, according to Macdonell and Keith (1912), it denotes the wavy-leaved fig tree (Ficus infectoria) instead. In Hindu texts, the Plaksa tree is associated with the source of the Sarasvati River. The Skanda Purana states that the Sarasvati originates from the water pot of Brahma  flows from Plaksa on the Himalayas. According to Vamana Purana 32.1-4, the Sarasvati was rising from the Plaksa tree (Pipal tree). Plaksa Pra-sravana denotes the place where the Sarasvati appears. In the Rigveda Sutras, Plaksa Pra-sravana refers to the source of the Sarasvati.


Ficus religiosa is grown by  specialty tree plant nurseries for use as an ornamental tree, in gardens and parks in tropical and subtropical climates. Peepul trees are native to Indian subcontinent and thrive in hot, humid weather. They prefer full sunlight and can grow in all soil types, though loam is the best. When planting, use soil with a pH of 7 or below. While it is possible for the plant to grow indoors in a pot, it grows best outside. Young peepul needs proper nourishment. It requires full sunlight and proper watering. Sacred fig occurs naturally in submontane forest regions. As with many Ficus trees, these are well suited for Bonsai training.
In the Middle East, it is preferably planted as an avenue or road verge tree. In the Philippines and in Nicaragua the species is cultivated in parks and along roadsides and pavements, while in Paraguay it occurs in forests at lower elevations.
In Thailand โพ or "Pho" trees grow everywhere, but in the Wats (temples) they are revered, and usually are several hundred years old, with trunks up to 20 feet / 6 meters wide. As with all sacred trees in Thailand, they have a saffron cloth wrapped around the base. A yearly ritual involving the Bo Trees at wats is the purchasing of "mai kam sii" ไม้คำ้ศริ, which are "supports" that look like crutches and are placed under the spreading branches as if holding them up. The purchase money helps fund the wat, a central part of Thai life.


Ficus religiosa is used in traditional medicine for about fifty types of disorders including asthma, diabetes, diarrhea, epilepsy, gastric problems, inflammatory disorders, infectious and sexual disorders.
Farmers in North India also cultivate it for its fig fruit.
The trunk of this tree is used by farmers as a soil leveller. After seed harvesting, the rectangular trunk is connected to tractors and levels the soil.


The Plant List, Ficus religiosa L.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Peepul" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 45.
"Ficus religiosa". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 29 January 2017.
Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 1014
"Ficus religiosa — Peepal". Flowers of India. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
State symbols
"Ficus religiosa L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
Sher, S. and Hameed, A., Comparative Analysis of the Gandharan Floral Motifs from Butkara (I and III) and Takht-i-Bahi. Sindh Antiquities 2020 Vol-06, No 1, pp. 128–145.
"The Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 10 - The Yoga of Manifestation". santosha.com.
"Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research, OLDLIST". Retrieved 3 July 2011.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bo-Tree" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 305.
D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Sarasvati, 1999, p. 35–44
Pancavimsa Brahmana, Jaiminiya Upanisad Brahmana, Katyayana Srauta Sutra, Latyayana Srauta; Macdonell and Keith 1912
Asvalayana Srauta Sutra, Sankhayana Srauta Sutra; Macdonell and Keith 1912, II:55
"Ficus religiosa (sacred fig tree)". Invasive Species Compendium. CABI. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
Damanpreet Singh; Bikram Singh; Rajesh Kumar Goela (12 April 2011). "Journal of Ethnopharmacology : Traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology of Ficus religiosa: A review". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 134 (3): 565–583. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2011.01.046. PMID 21296646.
"Peepal Tree: Benefits And Uses of Peepal Tree » Trees Varieties". Trees Varieties. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.


Filipendula ulmaria, commonly known as meadowsweet or mead wort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia (Near east and Middle east). It has been introduced and naturalised in North America.
Meadowsweet has also been referred to as queen of the meadow, pride of the meadow, meadow-wort, meadow queen, lady of the meadow, dollof, meadsweet, and bridewort.


The stems are 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) tall, erect and furrowed, reddish to sometimes purple. The leaves are dark-green on the upper side and whitish and downy underneath, much divided, interruptedly pinnate, having a few large serrate leaflets and small intermediate ones. Terminal leaflets are large, 4–8 cm long, and three- to five-lobed.
Meadowsweet has delicate, graceful, creamy-white flowers clustered close together in irregularly-branched cymes, having a very strong, sweet smell. They flower from early summer to early autumn and are visited by various types of insects, in particular Musca flies.
The flowers are small and numerous, they show 5 sepals and 5 petals with 7 to 20 stamens.


Many insects and fungi cause disease in meadowsweet.
 Meadowsweet leaves are commonly galled by the bright orange-rust fungus Triphragmium ulmariae, which creates swellings and distortions on the stalk and/or midrib.
The fungus Ramularia ulmariae causes purple blotches on the leaves.
The fungus Podosphaera filipendulae causes mildew on the leaves and flower heads, coating them with a white powder.
The midge Dasineura ulmariae causes pinkish-white galls on the leaves that can distort the leaf surface.


Meadowsweet is known by many other names. In Chaucer's The Knight's Tale it is known as meadwort and was one of the ingredients in a drink called "save". It was also known as bridewort, because it was strewn in churches for festivals and weddings, and often made into bridal garlands. In Europe, it took its name "queen of the meadow" for the way it can dominate a low-lying, damp meadow.
The name ulmaria means "elmlike", possibly in reference to its individual leaves which resemble those of the elm (Ulmus). The generic name, Filipendula, comes from filum, meaning "thread" and pendulus, meaning "hanging". This is said to describe the root tubers that hang characteristically on the genus, on fibrous roots.


Meadowsweet is common throughout the British Isles in damp areas and is dominant in fens and wet woods.
Juncus subnodulosus-Cirsium palustre fen-meadow and Purple moor grass and rush pastures BAP habitat plant associations of Western Europe consistently include this plant.


The whole herb possesses a pleasant taste and flavour, the green parts having a similar aromatic character to the flowers, leading to the use of the plant as a strewing herb, strewn on floors to give the rooms a pleasant aroma, and its use to flavour wine, beer, and many kinds of vinegar. The flowers can be added to stewed fruit and jams, giving them a subtle almond flavour. Some foragers also use the flowers for flavour in desserts such as panna cotta. It has many medicinal properties. The whole plant is a traditional remedy for an acidic stomach, and the fresh root is often used in homeopathic preparations. Dried, the flowers are used in potpourri. It is also a frequently used spice in Scandinavian varieties of mead.
Chemical constituents include salicin, flavone glycosides, essential oils, and tannins. In 1897, scientists in the firm Bayer used salicylic acid derived from meadowsweet to synthesise  acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), which was named after the old botanical name for meadowsweet, Spiraea ulmaria.
A natural black dye can be obtained from the roots by using a copper mordant.
A tea made from Filipendula ulmaria flowers or leaves has been used in traditional Austrian herbal medicine for the treatment of rheumatism, gout, infections, and fever.


White-flowered meadowsweet has been found with the cremated remains of three people and at least one animal in a Bronze Age cairn at Fan Foel, Carmarthenshire. Similar finds have also been found inside a beaker from Ashgrove, Fife, and a vessel from North Mains, Strathallan. These could indicate honey-based mead or flavoured ale, or might suggest the plant placed on the grave as a scented flower.
In Welsh mythology, Gwydion and Math created a woman out of oak blossom, broom, and meadowsweet and named her Blodeuwedd ("flower face").
In the 16th century, when it was customary to strew floors with rushes and herbs (both to give warmth underfoot and to overcome smells and infections), it was a favorite of Elizabeth I of England. She desired it above all other herbs in her chambers.


Flatormenis proxima, known generally as the northern flatid planthopper or mealy flatid planthopper, is a species of flatid planthopper in the family Flatidae.


Floerkea is a monotypic genus of plants in the meadowfoam family containing the sole species Floerkea proserpinacoides, which is known by the common names false mermaid, false mermaidweed, and floerkea. This tiny wildflower is native to many parts of North America, where it is found in moist areas such as shady forests. It is a fleshy, annual herb which grows short stems which may lie flat on the ground, tangle into a clump, or grow somewhat erect. The foliage is hairless and shiny. The leaves are divided into many oval-shaped, pointed leaflets up to 2 cm (0.79 in) long. The flower is a cup of pointed green sepals containing three tiny white spoon-shaped petals and a bunch of stamens with yellow anthers. Growing in the center of the flower are the two to three fruits, which are bumpy, spherical nutlets.
The logo for the Flora of North America is a Floerkea flower. The genus was named in honor of the German botanist, Heinrich Gustav Flörke.


The white-necked jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) is a medium-size hummingbird that ranges from Mexico south through Central America and northern South America into Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. It is also found in Trinidad & Tobago.
Other common names are great jacobin and collared hummingbird.


In 1743 the English naturalist George Edwards included a picture and a description of the white-necked jacobin in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "white-belly'd huming bird". Edwards based his etching on a specimen owned by the Duke of Richmond that had been collected in Suriname. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the white-necked jacobin with the other hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Trochilus mellivorus and cited Edwards' work. The specific epithet combines the Latin mel meaning "honey" and -vorus meaning "eating". The type locality is Suriname. The white-necked jacobin is now placed in the genus Florisuga that was introduced in 1850 by Charles Bonaparte.
These two subspecies are recognised. F. m. flabellifera has sometimes been called F. m. tobagensis.
F. m. mellivora Linnaeus (1758)
F. m. flabellifera Gould (1846)


The white-necked jacobin is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long. Males weigh 7.4 to 9 g (0.26 to 0.32 oz) and females 6 to 9.2 g (0.21 to 0.32 oz). The male is unmistakable with its dark blue head and chest and white belly and tail; the tail feathers have black tips. A white band on the nape separates the blue head from the bright green back and long uppertail coverts. Females are highly variable, and may resemble adult or immature males. The majority of females have green upperparts, a blue-green throat and breast with white "scales", a white belly, and a mostly green tail with a blue end. Immature males vary from female-like, but with more white in the tail, to male-like with more black there. Immature females also vary but usually have less white in the tail and are somewhat bronzy on the throat and chest.


The nominate subspecies of white-necked jacobin, F. m. mellivora, is found from southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca, Mexico, through southern Belize, northern Guatemala, eastern Honduras and Nicaragua, eastern and western Costa Rica, and Panama into South America. In that continent it is found in much of Colombia and Ecuador, eastern Peru, northern Bolivia, most of Venezuela, the Guianas, the northwestern half of Brazil, and the island of Trinidad. F. m. flabellifera is found only on the island of Tobago. The nominate has been recorded as a vagrant in Argentina and on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao.
The white-necked jacobin inhabits the canopy and edges of humid forest and also semi-open landscapes such as tall secondary forest, gallery forest, and coffee and cacao plantations. It is usually seen high in trees but comes lower at edges and in clearings. In elevation it usually ranges from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft) but has also rarely been seen as high as 1,500 m (4,900 ft).


The white-necked jacobin's movement pattern is not well understood. It apparently moves seasonally as flower abundance changes, but details are lacking.


The white-necked jacobin feeds on nectar at the flowers of tall trees, epiphytes, shrubs, and Heliconia plants. Several may feed in one tree and are aggressive to each other, but they are otherwise seldom territorial. Both sexes hawk small insects, mostly by hovering, darting, or sallying from perches.


The white-necked jacobin breeds in the dry to early wet seasons, which vary across their range. The nest is a shallow cup of plant down and cobweb placed on the upper surface of a leaf where another leaf provides a "roof". It is typically 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) above ground and sometimes near a stream. Males display and chase in the canopy and along edges during the breeding season. Females use a fluttering flight to distract predators.


The white-necked jacobin is not highly vocal. Its song is "a long series of high-pitched single notes, repeated at rate of c. 0.7–1 note/second 'tseee....tseee....tseee....tseee....'." Calls include "a short 'tsik',...a longer, high-pitched 'sweet', and a descending 'swee-swee-swee-swee' in antagonistic interactions."


The IUCN has assessed the white-necked jacobin as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range, but its population has not been quantified and its trend is unknown. It is deemed uncommon to common in most of its range. It occurs in many protected areas and appears able to use human-altered landscapes such as tree plantations.


Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
A guide to the birds of Costa Rica by Stiles and Skutch ISBN 0-8014-9600-4


The masked water tyrant (Fluvicola nengeta) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers, one of three in the genus Fluvicola.


It is found in its major range in eastern and southeastern Brazil in the caatinga and extreme eastern cerrado, and also Atlantic coastal regions; a second smaller disjunct range occurs on the Pacific side of South America in western Ecuador, and coastal border regions of northwest Peru.  Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.


Forestiera pubescens, commonly known as stretchberry, desert olive, tanglewood, devil's elbow, spring goldenglow, spring herald, New Mexico privet, or Texas forsythia is a deciduous shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California) and northern Mexico.


Forficula auricularia, the common earwig or European earwig, is an omnivorous insect in the family Forficulidae. The European earwig survives in a variety of environments and is a common household insect in North America. The name earwig comes from the appearance of the hindwings, which are unique and distinctive among insects, and resemble a human ear when unfolded; the species name of the common earwig, auricularia, is a specific reference to this feature. They are considered a household pest because of their tendency to invade crevices in homes and consume pantry foods, and may act either as a pest or as a beneficial species depending on the circumstances (see below).
Forficula auricularia is reddish-brown in color, with a flattened and elongate body, and slender, beaded antennae. An obvious feature of earwigs is the pair of 'pincers' or forceps at the tip of the flexible abdomen. Both sexes have these pincers; in males they are large and very curved, whereas in females they are straight. Nymphs are similar to adults in appearance, but their wings are either absent or small


Forficula auricularia has an elongated flattened brownish-colored body, with a shield-shaped pronotum, two pairs of wings and a pair of forcep-like cerci. They are about 12–15 mm long. The second tarsal segment is lobed, extending distally below the third tarsal segment. The antenna consists of 11–14 segments, and the mouth parts are of the chewing type.
Adult males are polymorphic in body weight and head width, as well as cercus length and width. The male forceps are very robust and broadened basally with crenulate teeth. The female forceps are about 3 mm long, and are less robust and straighter. The cerci are used during mating, feeding, and self-defense. Females also have tegmina of about 2 mm in length. Third instar or older nymphs that have lost one branch of cerci are capable of regenerating it in form of a straight structure. Males with asymmetrical forceps are called gynandromorphs or hermaphrodites because they resemble females.


Native to Europe, western Asia and probably North Africa, Forficula auricularia was introduced to North America in the early twentieth century and is currently spread throughout much of the continent. In North America, European earwigs comprise two sibling species, which are reproductively isolated. Populations in cold continental climates mostly have one clutch per year, forming species A, whereas those in warmer climates have two clutches per year, forming species B. European earwigs are most commonly found in temperate climates, since they were originally discovered in the Palearctic region, and are most active when the daily temperature has minimal fluctuation.


A male finds prospective mates by olfaction. He then slips his cerci under the tip of the female's abdomen so that his and her ventral abdominal surfaces are in contact with each other, while both face in opposite directions. If not disturbed, pairs can stay in this mating position for many hours. Matings occurred frequently among clustered individuals particularly in locations that allow both partners to cling to a surface. Under laboratory conditions, the mating season peaked during August and September, and a single mating event enabled females to lay fertilized eggs.
European earwig nymphs look very similar to their adult counterparts except that they are a lighter color. The young go through four nymphal stages and do not leave the nest until after the first moult.
European earwigs overwinter about 5 mm below the surface of the ground. The female earwig lays a clutch of about 50 eggs in an underground nest in the autumn. She enters a dormant state and stays in the nest with the eggs. The female cares for her young by shifting the eggs about and cleaning them to avoid fungal growth. In the spring, she spreads them out into a single layer and the young emerge from the eggs. She guards them until they reach maturity after about one month. It is possible for the female to lay a second brood in one season and by the end of August all of the young reach maturity.


Forficula auricularia has been known to cause significant damage to crops, flowers, and fruit orchards when at high population levels. Some of the commercially valuable vegetables it feeds upon include cabbage, cauliflower, chard, celery, lettuce, potato, beet, and cucumber among others. Earwigs readily consume corn (maize) silk and can damage the crop. Among fruits, they have been found to damage apple and pear orchards. They damage young plum and peach trees in early spring, when other food is scarce, by devouring blossoms and leaves at night. It is not uncommon to find them wedged among petals of fresh cut carnations, roses, dahlia and zinnia.
In addition to all of the agricultural problems caused, humans are not very fond of F. auricularia because of its foul odor and annoying propensity to aggregate together in or near human dwellings.
Control of F. auricularia has been attempted using some of its natural enemies, including the parasitoid fly Bigonicheta spinipenni, the fungi Erynia forficulae and Metarhizium anisopliae, as well as many species of birds. The tachinid flies Triarthria setipennis (Fallen) and Ocytata pallipes have been introduced in North America to control F. auricularia in the 1920s.
Insecticides have also been successfully implemented, although commercial products are rarely targeted specifically towards earwigs. Multipurpose insecticides for control of earwigs, grasshoppers, sowbugs and other insects are more common. Diazinon, an organophosphate insecticide, has been known to continue killing F. auricularia up to 17 days after initial spraying.
Humans have, however, found beneficial uses of F. auricularia in the pest management of other insects. The European earwig is a natural predator of a number of other agricultural pests, including the pear psyllid and several aphid species, and in this regard has been used to control outbreaks of such organisms. Damage to crops by F. auricularia is limited as long as there are high population levels of their insect prey.


Formica rufa, also known as the  red wood ant, southern wood ant, or horse ant, is a boreal member of the Formica rufa group of ants, and is the type species for that group. It is native to Europe and Anatolia, but is also found in North America, in both coniferous and broad-leaf broken woodland and parkland. Workers are colored red and brownish-black, with a dorsal dark patch on the head and promensonotum, and are polymorphic, measuring 4.5–9 mm in length. They have large mandibles, and like many other ant species, they are able to spray formic acid from their abdomens as a defence. Formic acid was first extracted in 1671 by the English naturalist John Ray by distilling a large number of crushed ants of this species. These ants primarily eat honeydew from aphids. Some groups form large networks of connected nests with multiple queen colonies, while others have single-queen colonies.


Nests of these ants are large, conspicuous, dome-shaped mounds of grass, twigs, or conifer needles, often built against a rotting stump, usually situated in woodland clearings where the sun's rays can reach them. Large colonies may have 100,000 to 400,000 workers and 100 queens. F. rufa is highly polygynous and often readopts postnuptial queens from its own mother colony, leading to old, multigallery nests that may contain well over 100 egg-producing females. These colonies often may measure several metres in height and diameter. F. rufa is aggressively territorial, and often attacks and removes other ant species from the area. Nuptial flights take place during the springtime and are often marked by savage battles between neighbouring colonies as territorial boundaries are re-established.  New nests are established by budding from existing nests in the spring, or by the mechanism of temporary social parasitism, the hosts being species of the F. fusca group, notably F. fusca and F. lemani, although incipient F. rufa colonies have also been recorded from nests of F. glebaria, F. cunnicularia, and similar species including the genus Lasius. An F. rufa queen ousts the nest's existing queen, lays eggs, and the existing workers care for her offspring until the nest is taken over.


These ants' primary diet is aphid honeydew, but they also prey on invertebrates such as insects and arachnids; they are voracious scavengers. Foraging trails may extend 100 m. Larger workers have been observed to forage farther away from the nest. F. rufa commonly is used in forestry and often is introduced into an area as a form of pest management.


The foraging behaviour of wood ants changes according to the environment. Wood ants have been shown to tend and harvest aphids and prey on and compete with, other predators for food resources. They tend to prey on the most plentiful members of the community whether they are in the canopies of trees or in the forest foliage. Wood ants seem to favour prey that lives in local canopies near their nest; however, when food resources dwindle, they seek other trees further from the nests and explore more trees instead of exploring the forest floor more thoroughly. This makes foraging for food significantly less efficient, but the rest of the nest does not help the foraging ants.


In 2008, the chronic bee paralysis virus was reported for the first time in this and another species of ants, Camponotus vagus. CBPV affects bees, ants, and mites.


The spectacled parrotlet (Forpus conspicillatus) is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.
There are three subspecies: F. c. conspicillatus, the Cauca spectacled parrotlet (F. c. caucae) and the Venezuelan spectacled parrotlet (F. c. metae).


Spectacled parrotlets are endemic to Middle and South America, including northern and central Colombia, Venezuela, and eastern Panama (subspecies can be found in specific regions of Colombia and Venezuela, see above). Natural habitats are lowland evergreen forest edge, thorn scrub, llanos, gallery woodland, and heavily degraded former forest or low-density woodland. Spectacled parrotlets are not found at altitudes higher than 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) above sea level.
Green and blue coloring helps spectacled parrotlets camouflage with the tropical trees in their habitats. Though color mutations such as the yellow pied mutation may occur in captivity, they are rare in wild due to the fact that a brighter color compromises a bird's ability to hide from predators.


According to the IUCN Red List, spectacled parrotlets are of Least Concern. Their populations are stable and possibly increasing due to deforestation and land development, as they prefer open habitat rather than dense forest. There are many protected areas across their range.


Spectacled parrotlets are highly social and live in small flocks, but can be seen in large flocks of up to 100 individuals on clay mounds drinking runoff  or eating clay.


The bright color of the male and specific mating calls attract the female to the male parrotlet. Spectacled parrotlets typically breed between January and March.
Spectacled parrotlets nest in tree cavities or similar structures. Often they will make use of abandoned tree hole or clay mountain nests created by other unrelated bird species, though they are also capable of creating new nests. The female incubates eggs while the male assumes the role of guarding the nest and feeding the female and chicks once they are hatched. Spectacled parrots are monogamous and some pairs may even mate for life.
Once a female lays one egg, she will lay another every two days until clutch size is reached. Typically, a couple will hatch 4-6 eggs per clutch after an 18-day incubation.
Babies fledge at about five weeks old, and siblings keep in close contact with one another for a few weeks post-fledging. Birds from the same clutch use specific calls and continue to feed each other and play until they are self-sufficient and mature.


Spectacled parrotlets are able to differentiate between social companions and adapt their calls to mimic the call of the bird they are communicating with. Specific calls are used when communicating with other birds. These calls are sometimes described as "names."
Calls can range between tweeting, chirping or buzzing sounds, depending on the information being relayed.
In aviculture, pet spectacled parrotlets can learn to mimic their owners. Males are known to be better mimickers than females due to the instinctive nature of calling to attract a female mate in the wild.


In recent years, spectacled parrotlets have become increasingly popular pets. Parrotlets can be held in captivity as breeding pairs or as a social companion.


Breeding pairs do not make good companion pets, as they cannot be handled if they are wanted for breeding. Pairs require a closed nest box in the place of a tree hole nest in the wild, in order to reproduce.


Spectacled parrotlets require cages roughly 24’’ by 24’’ by 18’’, with perches of different sizes and textures to encourage nail filing and foot exercise. Toys, especially foraging toys, encourage active playing and chewing to exercise the beak.
Often, owners of spectacled parrotlets will clip the flight feathers as a safety precaution for the bird. Typically, the first six primaries are cut. These feathers grow back when the bird molts (roughly twice a year). Nails should be clipped every four months to prevent overgrowth and ensure comfortable perching.
A domesticated parrotlet's diet typically consists of mixed grains or pellets. Mixed grain diets usually consist of white millet, sunflower seeds, and a variety of other seeds. Pellets are often the preferred diet due to their high nutrition. Pellet diets are often enriched with proteins and minerals such as calcium to ensure the bird is getting the necessary minerals that it would naturally obtain from its diet in the wild.


Fouquieria splendens (commonly known as ocotillo /ɒkəˈtiːjoʊ/ (American Spanish: [okoˈtiʝo]), but also referred to as coachwhip, candlewood, slimwood, desert coral, Jacob's staff, Jacob cactus, and vine cactus) is a plant indigenous to the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert and Colorado Desert in the Southwestern United States (southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas), and northern Mexico (as far south as Hidalgo and Guerrero).
While semi-succulent and a desert plant, Ocotillo is more closely related to tea and blueberries than to cactuses. For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the stems are partly green. With rainfall, the plant quickly becomes lush with small (2–4 cm), ovate leaves, which may remain for weeks or even months.
Individual stems may reach a diameter of 5 cm at the base, and the plant may grow to a height of 10 m (33 ft). The plant branches very heavily at its base, but above that, the branches are pole-like and rarely divide further. Specimens in cultivation may not exhibit any secondary branches. The leaf stalks harden into blunt spines, and new leaves sprout from the base of the spine.
The bright crimson flowers appear especially after rainfall in spring, summer, and occasionally fall. Flowers are clustered indeterminately at the tips of each mature stem. Individual flowers are mildly zygomorphic and are pollinated by hummingbirds and native carpenter bees.


Ocotillo occurs in desert regions of southwestern United States through central Mexico. It grows in dry, generally rocky soils.


Ocotillo can be planted year-round with care. Ideal plants have been grown in pots from stem cuttings and from seed. Transplanting large bare-root plants has marginal success. They should be planted to the original growing depth and, as with cacti, in their original directional orientation: the original south side of the plant, which has become more heat- and sunlight-resistant, should again face the brighter, hotter southern direction. If their direction is not marked, success is again limited.


Individual ocotillo stems are sometimes used as poles as a fencing material in their native region, and often take root to form a living fence.
Due to their light weight and interesting pattern, ocotillo branches have been used for canes or walking sticks.
Fresh flowers are sometimes used in salads and have a tangy flavor.
Flowers are collected, dried, and used for tisanes.
According to Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West (a book published in 1989 by Museum of New Mexico Press), a fresh bark tincture can be made by chopping or snipping freshly removed bark into 1/2-inch pieces. It is said to be useful for those symptoms that arise due to fluid congestion and to be absorbed from the intestines into the mesenteric lymph system by way of the lacteals of the small intestinal lining. This is believed to stimulate better visceral lymph drainage into the thoracic duct and improve dietary fat absorption into the lymph system.
Bathing in water that contains crushed flowers or roots has been used to relieve fatigue.
Native Americans place the flowers and roots of ocotillo over fresh wounds to slow bleeding.
Ocotillo is also used to alleviate coughing, achy limbs, varicose veins, urinary tract infections, cervical varicosities, and benign prostate growths.


The three subspecies are:
F. s. splendens Engelm.
F. s. breviflora Hendrickson
F. s. campanulata (Nash) Henrickson


Frankenia salina, often called alkali heath or alkali seaheath, is a perennial herb native to California, Nevada, Mexico and Chile. It is uncommon even in the region where it is most likely to be found, just north of the San Francisco Bay Area.
It is a squat flowering bush that forms a twiggy thicket near beaches and coastal salt marshes. Its common name refers to its preference for alkaline soils as a halophyte. It has the ability to excrete salt as an adaptation for living in saline habitats. The flowers are pink or fuchsia in color.


Frasera caroliniensis, commonly known as  American columbo or yellow gentian, is a herbaceous perennial of the gentian family Gentianaceae found in the deciduous forest of Southern Ontario and throughout the eastern and southeastern United States.  It was previously known as Swertia caroliniensis.


American columbo is a monocarpic perennial, meaning it flowers once after multiple seasons, and then dies. When it reaches the flowering stage, the 3 – 6 inch lanceolate leaves develop (usually in whorls of four) on a round elongated stem, and approximately 50 to 100 flowers will develop a panicle, with the fruits maturing soon after. The flowers that it produces are about 1 inch in diameter and folious (tall and "spike"-like), green to yellow in colour with purple speckles. It is a perfect and complete flower, with four stamens and two carpels.
The oblong shaped seed capsule has a brownish color and is about 1/2 inch long.
The entire plant can reach heights over 2 metres (7 ft).  Though it is monocarpic, the plant may live for up to 30 years before flowering.
The roots of  F. caroliniensis are a taproot system, with a thick and fleshy taproot, and in some Frasera species, this may be modified into a branched rhizome. The leaves of F. caroliensis are carried on stalks ("petiolate") and have a thick, waxy texture.


It is also known as American calumba, American colombo, Radix colombo americanae, Frasera Walteri, Frasera canadensis, faux colomo, meadowpride, pyramid-flower, pyramid-plant, Indian lettuce, yellow gentian, and ground-century.


American columbo lives in dry upland areas, rocky woods and areas with calcareous soil, though it is not limited by soil texture or other soil characteristics. The species ranges from deciduous forest regions in southern Ontario, through southern Michigan, northern Indiana, southern Illinois, southern Missouri, southeast Oklahoma, southwestern Arkansas, and northern Louisiana.


Medicinal uses for American columbo have mostly been rebutted. However, it was a common belief in the early 19th century that the root of the plant might be externally used for gangrene. It was also claimed to be useful in treating jaundice, scurvy, gout and rabies.
The dried root, which was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1880, is used as a simple tonic.
Frasera caroliniensis is chiefly known as an occasional substitute for calumba root, or Jateorhiza palmata, a native of Mozambique.


Several tree species are associated with F. caroliniensis, such as  sweet-gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and pignut hickory (Carya glabra). Even more vines and understory trees are associated with this species, such as eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), strawberry bush (Euonymus americanus), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans). Herbs associated with the species include the prostrate ticktrefoil (Desmodium rotundifolium), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) and ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron). The canopy of trees that are associated with this species are important for its survival, though if the canopy becomes too dense the plant may not flower as well. When the plants do flower, they contain large nectaries, which aid in pollination.


This species is endangered in Ontario and nationally in Canada. The most extreme limiting factor for this species is invasive plants that are heavily infesting its habitat. This may be attributed to its long life cycle, which would not allow the species to adapt to rapid changes in environment, and therefore not survive long enough to disperse its seeds. Also this species has a "seed dormancy" (prevention of germination until optimal environmental conditions are present), that can only be broken in typical spring conditions. Furthermore, deforestation can be extremely destructive to the plants, as they rely on the canopy provided from the trees. Conservation practices to manage these issues include leaving surrounding trees within 4 square metres (43 sq ft), stimulating growth by cutting a small opening in the canopy, and draining overly flooded areas to provide clay-like soil.


The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin, are found in the northeastern Pacific. The Atlantic puffin breeds in Russia, Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and the Faroe Islands, and as far south as Maine in the west and France in the east. It is most commonly found on the Westman Islands, Iceland. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in parts of its range, resulting in it being rated as vulnerable by the IUCN. On land, it has the typical upright stance of an auk. At sea, it swims on the surface and feeds on small fish and crabs, which it catches by diving under water, using its wings for propulsion.
This puffin has a black crown and back, pale grey cheek patches, and white body and underparts. Its broad, boldly marked red-and-black beak and orange legs contrast with its plumage. It moults while at sea in the winter, and some of the brightly coloured facial characteristics are lost, with colour returning again during the spring. The external appearances of the adult male and female are identical, though the male is usually slightly larger. The juvenile has similar plumage, but its cheek patches are dark grey. The juvenile does not have brightly coloured head ornamentation, its bill is narrower and is dark-grey with a yellowish-brown tip, and its legs and feet are also dark. Puffins from northern populations are typically larger than in the south and these populations are generally considered a different subspecies.
Spending the autumn and winter in the open ocean of the cold northern seas, the Atlantic puffin returns to coastal areas at the start of the breeding season in late spring. It nests in clifftop colonies, digging a burrow in which a single white egg is laid. Chicks mostly feed on whole fish and grow rapidly. After about 6 weeks, they are fully fledged and make their way at night to the sea. They swim away from the shore and do not return to land for several years.
Colonies are mostly on islands with no terrestrial predators, but adult birds and newly fledged chicks are at risk of attacks from the air by gulls and skuas. Sometimes, a bird such as an Arctic skua or black back gull can cause a puffin arriving with a beak full of fish to drop all the fish the puffin was holding in its mouth. The puffin's striking appearance, large, colourful bill, waddling gait, and behaviour have given rise to nicknames such as "clown of the sea" and "sea parrot". It is the official bird of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.


The Atlantic puffin is a species of seabird in the order Charadriiformes. It is in the auk family, Alcidae, which includes the guillemots, typical auks, murrelets, auklets, puffins, and the razorbill. The rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) and the puffins are closely related, together composing the tribe Fraterculini. The Atlantic puffin is the only species in the genus Fratercula to occur in the Atlantic Ocean. Two other species are known from the northeast Pacific, the tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) and the horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata), the latter being the closest relative of the Atlantic puffin.
The generic name Fratercula comes from the Medieval Latin fratercula, friar, a reference to their black and white plumage, which resembles monastic robes. The specific name arctica refers to the northerly distribution of the bird, being derived from the Greek ἄρκτος (arktos), the bear, referring to the northerly constellation, the Ursa Major (Great Bear). The vernacular name "puffin" – puffed in the sense of swollen – was originally applied to the fatty, salted meat of young birds of the unrelated species Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), which in 1652 was known as the "Manks puffin". It is an Anglo-Norman word (Middle English pophyn or poffin) used for the cured carcasses. The Atlantic puffin acquired the name at a much later stage, possibly because of its similar nesting habits, and it was formally applied to Fratercula arctica by Pennant in 1768. While the species is also known as the common puffin, "Atlantic puffin" is the English name recommended by the International Ornithological Congress.
The three subspecies generally recognized are:
F. a. arctica
F. a. grabae
F. a. naumanni
The only morphological difference between the three is their size. Body length, wing length, and size of beak all increase at higher latitudes. For example, a puffin from northern Iceland (subspecies F. a. naumanii) weighs about 650 g (1 lb 7 oz) and has a wing length of 186 mm (7+5⁄16 in), while one from the Faroes (subspecies F. a. grabae) weighs 400 g (0.9 lb) and has a wing length of 158 mm (6.2 in). Individuals from southern Iceland (subspecies F. a. arctica) are intermediate between the other two in size. Ernst Mayr has argued that the differences in size are clinal and are typical of variations found in peripheral population and that no subspecies should be recognised.


The Atlantic puffin is sturdily built with a thick-set neck and short wings and tail. It is 28 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in) in length from the tip of its stout bill to its blunt-ended tail. Its wingspan is 47 to 63 cm (19 to 25 in) and on land it stands about 20 cm (8 in) high. The male is generally slightly larger than the female, but they are coloured alike. The forehead, crown, and nape are glossy black, as are the back, wings, and tail. A broad, black collar extends around the neck and throat. On each side of the head is a large, lozenge-shaped area of very pale grey. These face patches taper to a point and nearly meet at the back of the neck. The shape of the head creates a crease extending from the eye to the hindmost point of each patch, giving the appearance of a grey streak. The eyes look almost triangular in shape because of a small, peaked area of horny blue-grey skin above them and a rectangular patch below. The irises are brown or very dark blue, and each has red orbital ring. The under parts of the bird, the breast, belly, and under tail coverts, are white. By the end of the breeding season, the black plumage may have lost its shine or even taken on a slightly brown tinge. The legs are short and set well back on the body, giving the bird its upright stance when on land. Both legs and large webbed feet are bright orange, contrasting with the sharp, black claws.
The beak is very distinctive. From the side, the beak is broad and triangular, but viewed from above, it is narrow. The half near the tip is orange-red and the half near to the head is slate grey. A yellow, chevron-shaped ridge separates the two parts, with a yellow, fleshy strip at the base of the bill. At the joint of the two mandibles is a yellow, wrinkled rosette. The exact proportions of the beak vary with the age of the bird. In an immature individual, the beak has reached its full length, but it is not as broad as that of an adult. With time the bill deepens, the upper edge curves, and a kink develops at its base. As the bird ages, one or more grooves may form on the red portion. The bird has a powerful bite.
The characteristic bright orange bill plates and other facial characteristics develop in the spring. At the close of the breeding season, these special coatings and appendages are shed in a partial moult. This makes the beak appear less broad, the tip less bright, and the base darker grey. The eye ornaments are shed and the eyes appear round. At the same time, the feathers of the head and neck are replaced and the face becomes darker. This winter plumage is seldom seen by humans, because when they have left their chicks, the birds head out to sea and do not return to land until the next breeding season. The juvenile bird is similar to the adult in plumage, but altogether duller with a much darker grey face and yellowish-brown beak tip and legs. After fledging, it makes its way to the water and heads out to sea and does not return to land for several years. In the interim, each year, it will have a broader bill, paler face patches, and brighter legs and beak.
The Atlantic puffin has a direct flight, typically 10 m (35 ft) above the sea surface and higher over the water than most other auks. It mostly moves by paddling along efficiently with its webbed feet and seldom takes to the air. It is typically silent at sea, except for the soft purring sounds it sometimes makes in flight. At the breeding colony, it is quiet above ground, but in its burrow makes a growling sound somewhat resembling a chainsaw being revved up.


The Atlantic puffin is a bird of the colder waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. It breeds on the coasts of northwest Europe, the Arctic fringes, and eastern North America. More than 90% of the global population is found in Europe (4,770,000–5,780,000 pairs, equaling 9,550,000–11,600,000 adults) and colonies in Iceland alone are home to 60% of the world's Atlantic puffins. The largest colony in the western Atlantic (estimated at more than 260,000 pairs) can be found at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, south of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Other major breeding locations include the north and west coasts of Norway, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney, the west coast of Greenland, and the coasts of Newfoundland. Smaller-sized colonies are also found elsewhere in the British Isles, the Murmansk area of Russia, Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen, Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Maine. Islands seem particularly attractive to the birds for breeding as compared to mainland sites, likely so as to avoid predators.
While at sea, the bird ranges widely across the North Atlantic Ocean, including the North Sea, and may enter the Arctic Circle. In the summer, its southern limit stretches from northern France to Maine; in the winter, the bird may range as far south as the Mediterranean Sea and North Carolina. These oceanic waters have such a vast extent of 15×10⁶–30×10⁶ km² (6×10⁶–12×10⁶ sq mi) that each bird has more than 1 km² of range at its disposal, so is seldom seen out at sea. In Maine, light-level geolocators have been attached to the legs of puffins, which store information on their whereabouts. The birds need to be recaptured to access the information, a difficult task. One bird was found to have covered 7,700 km (4,800 mi) of ocean in 8 months, traveling northwards to the northern Labrador Sea then southeastward to the mid-Atlantic before returning to land.
In a long-living bird with a small clutch size, such as the Atlantic puffin, the survival rate of adults is an important factor influencing the success of the species. Only 5% of the ringed puffins that failed to reappear at the colony did so during the breeding season. The rest were lost some time between departing from land in the summer and reappearing the following spring. The birds spend the winter widely spread out in the open ocean, though a tendency exists for individuals from different colonies to overwinter in different areas. Little is known of their behaviour and diet at sea, but no correlation was found between environmental factors, such as temperature variations, and their mortality rate. A combination of the availability of food in winter and summer probably influences the survival of the birds, since individuals starting the winter in poor condition are less likely to survive than those in good condition.


Like many seabirds, the Atlantic puffin spends most of the year far from land in the open ocean and only visits coastal areas to breed. It is a sociable bird and it usually breeds in large colonies.


Atlantic puffins lead solitary existences when out at sea, and this part of their lives has been little studied, as the task of finding even one bird on the vast ocean is formidable. When at sea, they bob about like a cork, propelling themselves through the water with powerful thrusts of their feet and keeping turned into the wind, even when resting and apparently asleep. They spend much time each day preening to keep their plumage in order and spread oil from their preen glands. Their downy underplumage remains dry and provides thermal insulation. In common with other seabirds, their upper surface is black and underside white. This provides camouflage, with aerial predators unable to locate the birds against the dark, watery background, and underwater attackers fail to notice them as they blend in with the bright sky above the waves.
When it takes off, the Atlantic puffin patters across the surface of the water while vigorously flapping its wings, before launching itself into the air. The size of the wing has adapted to its dual use, both above and below the water, and its surface area is small relative to the bird's weight. To maintain flight, the wings must beat very rapidly at a rate of several times each second. The bird's flight is direct and low over the surface of the water, and it can travel at 80 km/h (50 mph). Landing is awkward; it either crashes into a wave crest, or in calmer water, does a belly flop. While at sea, the Atlantic puffin has its annual moult. Land birds mostly lose their primaries one pair at a time to enable them still to be able to fly, but the puffin sheds all its primaries at one time and dispenses with flight entirely for a month or two. The moult usually takes place between January and March, but young birds may lose their feathers a little later in the year.


The Atlantic puffin diet consists almost entirely of fish, though examination of its stomach contents shows that it occasionally eats shrimp, other crustaceans, molluscs, and polychaete worms, especially in more coastal waters. When fishing, it swims under water using its semiextended wings as paddles to "fly" through the water and its feet as a rudder. It swims fast and can reach considerable depths and stay submerged for up to a minute. It can eat shallow-bodied fish as long as 18 cm (7 in), but its prey is commonly smaller fish, around 7 cm (3 in) long. An adult bird needs to eat an estimated 40 of these per day—sand eels, herring, sprats, and capelin being the most often consumed. It fishes by sight and can swallow small fish while submerged, but larger specimens are brought to the surface. It can catch several small fish in one dive, holding the first ones in place in its beak with its muscular, grooved tongue while it catches others. The two mandibles are hinged in such a way that they can be held parallel to hold a row of fish in place and these are also retained by inward-facing serrations on the edges of the beak. It copes with the excess salt that it swallows partly through its kidneys and partly by excretion through specialised salt glands in its nostrils.


In the spring, mature birds return to land, usually to the colony where they were hatched. Birds that were removed as chicks and released elsewhere were found to show fidelity to their point of liberation. They congregate for a few days on the sea in small groups offshore before returning to the cliff-top nesting sites. Each large puffin colony is divided into subcolonies by physical boundaries such as stands of bracken or gorse. Early arrivals take control of the best locations, the most desirable nesting sites being the densely packed burrows on grassy slopes just above the cliff edge where take-off is most easily accomplished. The birds are usually monogamous, but this is the result of their fidelity to their nesting sites rather than to their mates, and they often return to the same burrows year after year. Later arrivals at the colony may find that all the best nesting sites have already been taken, so are pushed towards the periphery, where they are in greater danger of predation. Younger birds may come ashore a month or more after the mature birds and find no remaining nesting sites. They do not breed until the following year, although if the ground cover surrounding the colony is cut back before these subadults arrive, the number of successfully nesting pairs may be increased.
Atlantic puffins are cautious when approaching the colony, and no bird likes to land in a location where other puffins are not already present. They make several circuits of the colony before alighting. On the ground, they spend much time preening, spreading oil from their preen gland and setting each feather in its correct position with beak or claw. They also spend time standing by their burrow entrances and interacting with passing birds. Dominance is shown by an upright stance, with fluffed chest feathers and cocked tail, an exaggerated slow walk, head jerking, and gaping. Submissive birds lower their heads and hold their bodies horizontal and scurry past dominant individuals. Birds normally signal their intention to take off by briefly lowering their bodies before running down the slope to gain momentum. If a bird is startled and takes off unexpectedly, a panic can spread through the colony with all the birds launching themselves into the air and wheeling around in a great circle. The colony is at its most active in the evening, with birds standing outside their burrows, resting on the turf or strolling around. Then, the slopes empty for the night as the birds fly out to sea to roost, often choosing to do so at fishing grounds ready for early-morning provisioning.
The puffins are energetic burrow engineers and repairers, so the grassy slopes may be undermined by a network of tunnels. This causes the turf to dry out in summer, vegetation to die, and dry soil be whirled away by the wind. Burrows sometimes collapse, and humans may cause this to happen by walking incautiously across nesting slopes. A colony on Grassholm was lost through erosion when so little soil was left that burrows could not be made. New colonies are very unlikely to start up spontaneously because this gregarious bird only nests where others are already present. Nevertheless, the Audubon Society had success on Eastern Egg Rock Island in Maine, where, after a gap of 90 years, puffins were reintroduced and started breeding again. By 2011, over 120 pairs nested on the small islet. On the Isle of May on the other side of the Atlantic, only five pairs of puffins were breeding in 1958, while 20 years later, 10,000 pairs were present.


Having spent the winter alone on the ocean, whether the Atlantic puffin meets its previous partner offshore or whether they encounter each other when they return to their nest of the previous year is unclear. On land, they soon set about improving and clearing out the burrow. Often, one stands outside the entrance while the other excavates, kicking out quantities of soil and grit that showers the partner standing outside. Some birds collect stems and fragments of dry grasses as nesting materials, but others do not bother. Sometimes, a beakful of materials is taken underground, only to be brought out again and discarded. Apart from nest-building, the other way in which the birds restore their bond is by billing. This is a practice in which the pair approaches each other, each wagging their heads from side to side, and then rattling their beaks together. This seems to be an important element of their courtship behaviour because it happens repeatedly, and the birds continue to bill, to a lesser extent, throughout the breeding season.
Atlantic puffins are sexually mature at  4–5 years old. They are colonial nesters, excavating burrows on grassy clifftops or reusing existing holes, and on occasion may nest in crevices and among rocks and scree., in competition with other birds and animals for burrows. They can excavate their own hole or move into a pre-existing system dug by a rabbit, and have been known to peck and drive off the original occupant. Manx shearwaters also nest underground and often live in their own burrows alongside puffins, and their burrowing activities may break through into the puffin's living quarters, resulting in the loss of the egg. They are monogamous (mate for life) and give biparental care to their young. The male spends more time guarding and maintaining the nest, while the female is more involved in incubation and feeding the chick.
Egg-laying starts in April in more southerly colonies, but seldom occurs before June in Greenland. The female lays a single white egg each year, but if this is lost early in the breeding season, another might be produced. Synchronous laying of eggs is found in Atlantic puffins in adjacent burrows. The egg is large compared to the size of the bird, averaging 61 mm (2+3⁄8 in) long by 42 mm (1+5⁄8 in) wide and weighing about 62 g (2+3⁄16 oz). The white shell is usually devoid of markings, but soon becomes covered with mud. The incubation responsibilities are shared by both parents. They each have two feather-free brood patches on their undersides, where an enhanced blood supply provides heat for the egg. The parent on incubation duty in the dark nest chamber spends much of its time asleep with its head tucked under its wing, occasionally emerging from the tunnel to flap dust out of its feathers or take a short flight down to the sea.
Total incubation time is around 39–45 days. From above ground level, the first evidence that hatching has taken place is the arrival of an adult with a beak-load of fish. For the first few days, the chick may be fed with these beak-to-beak, but later the fish are simply dropped on the floor of the nest beside the chick, which swallows them whole. The chick is covered in fluffy black down, its eyes are open, and it can stand as soon as it is hatched. Initially weighing about 42 g (1+1⁄2 oz), it grows at the rate of 10 g (3⁄8 oz) per day. Initially, one or the other parent broods it, but as its appetite increases, it is left alone for longer periods. Observations of a nest chamber have been made from an underground hide with peephole. The chick sleeps much of the time between its parents' visits and also involves itself in bouts of exercise. It rearranges its nesting material, picks up and drops small stones, flaps its immature wings, pulls at protruding root ends, and pushes and strains against the unyielding wall of the burrow. It makes its way towards the entrance or along a side tunnel to defecate. The growing chick seems to anticipate the arrival of an adult, advancing along the burrow just before it arrives, but not emerging into the open air. It retreats to the nest chamber as the adult bird brings in its load of fish.
Hunting areas are often located 100 km (62 mi) or more offshore from the nest sites, although when feeding their young, the birds venture out only half that distance. Adults bringing fish to their chicks tend to arrive in groups. This is thought to benefit the bird by reducing kleptoparasitism by the Arctic skua, which harasses puffins until they drop their fish loads. Predation by the great skua (Catharacta skua) is also reduced by several birds arriving simultaneously.
In the Shetland Islands, sand eels (Ammodytes marinus) normally form at least 90% of the food fed to chicks. In years where the availability of sand eels was low, breeding success rates fell, with many chicks starving to death. In Norway, the herring (Clupea harengus) is the mainstay of the diet. When herring numbers dwindled, so did puffin numbers. In Labrador, the puffins seemed more flexible and when the staple forage fish capelin (Mallotus villosus) declined in availability, they were able to adapt and feed the chicks on other prey species.
The chicks take from 34 to 50 days to fledge, the period depending on the abundance of their food supply. In years of fish shortage, the whole colony may experience a longer fledgling period, but the normal range is 38 to 44 days, by which time chicks have reached about 75% of their mature body weight. The chick may come to the burrow entrance to defecate, but does not usually emerge into the open and seems to have an aversion to light until it is nearly fully fledged. Although the supply of fish by the adults reduces over the last few days spent in the nest, the chick is not abandoned as happens in the Manx shearwater. On occasions, an adult has been observed provisioning a nest even after the chick has departed. During the last few days underground, the chick sheds its down and the juvenile plumage is revealed. Its relatively small beak and its legs and feet are a dark colour, and it lacks the white facial patches of the adult. The chick finally leaves its nest at night, when the risk of predation is at its lowest. When the moment arrives, it emerges from the burrow, usually for the first time, and walks, runs, and flaps its way to the sea. It cannot fly properly yet, so descending a cliff is perilous; when it reaches the water, it paddles out to sea, and may be 3 km (1.9 mi) away from the shore by daybreak. It does not congregate with others of its kind and does not return to land for 2–3 years.


Atlantic puffins are probably safer when out at sea, where the dangers are more often from below the water rather than above; puffins can sometimes be seen putting their heads under water to peer around for predators. Seals have been known to kill puffins, and large fish may also do so. Most puffin colonies are on small islands, and this is no coincidence, as it avoids predation by ground-based mammals such as foxes, rats, stoats, weasels, cats, and dogs. When they come ashore, the birds are still at risk and the main threats come from the sky.
Aerial predators of the Atlantic puffin include the great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), the great skua (Stercorarius skua), and similar-sized species, which can catch a bird in flight, or attack one that is unable to escape fast enough on the ground. On detecting danger, puffins take off and fly down to the safety of the sea or retreat into their burrows, but if caught, they defend themselves vigorously with beak and sharp claws. When the puffins are wheeling round beside the cliffs, a predator concentrating on a single bird becomes very difficult, while any individual isolated on the ground is at greater risk. Smaller gull species such as the herring gull (L. argentatus) and the lesser black-backed gull are hardly able to bring down a healthy adult puffin. They stride through the colony taking any eggs that have rolled towards burrow entrances or recently hatched chicks that have ventured too far towards the daylight. They also steal fish from puffins returning to feed their young. Where it nests on the tundra in the far north, the Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) is a terrestrial predator, but at lower latitudes, it is a specialised kleptoparasite, concentrating on auks and other seabirds. It harasses puffins while they are airborne, forcing them to drop their catch, which it then snatches up.
Both the guillemot tick Ixodes uriae and the flea Ornithopsylla laetitiae (probably originally a rabbit flea) have been recorded from the nests of puffins. Other fleas found on the birds include Ceratophyllus borealis, Ceratophyllus gallinae, Ceratophyllus garei, Ceratophyllus vagabunda, and the common rabbit flea Spilopsyllus cuniculi.


The Atlantic puffin has an extensive range that covers over 1,620,000 km² (625,000 sq mi) and Europe, which holds more than 90% of the global population, is home to 4,770,000–5,780,000 pairs (equalling 9,550,000–11,600,000 adults). In 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded its status from "least concern" to "vulnerable". This was caused by a review that revealed a rapid and ongoing population decline in its European range. Trends elsewhere are unknown, although in 2018, the total global population was estimated at 12–14 million adult individuals. Some of the causes of population decline may be increased predation by gulls and skuas, the introduction of rats, cats, dogs, and foxes onto some islands used for nesting, contamination by toxic residues, drowning in fishing nets, declining food supplies, and climate change. On the island of Lundy, the number of puffins decreased from 3,500 pairs in 1939 to 10 pairs in 2000. This was mainly due to the rats that had proliferated on the island and were eating eggs and young chicks. Following the elimination of the rats, populations were expected to recover, and in 2005, a juvenile was seen, believed to be the first chick raised on the island for 30 years. In 2018, BirdLife International reported that the Atlantic puffin was threatened with extinction.
Puffin numbers increased considerably in the late 20th century in the North Sea, including on the Isle of May and the Farne Islands, where numbers increased by about 10% per year. In the 2013 breeding season, nearly 40,000 pairs were recorded on the Farne Islands, a slight increase on the 2008 census and on the previous year's poor season, when some of the burrows flooded. This number is dwarfed by the Icelandic colonies with five million pairs breeding, the Atlantic puffin being the most populous bird on the island. In the Westman Islands, where about half Iceland's puffins breed, the birds were almost driven to extinction by overharvesting around 1900 and a 30-year ban on hunting was put in place. When stocks recovered, a different method of harvesting was used and now hunting is maintained at a sustainable level. Nevertheless, a further hunting ban covering the whole of Iceland was called for in 2011, although the puffin's lack of recent breeding success was being blamed on a diminution in food supply rather than overharvesting. Since 2000, a sharp population decline has been seen in Iceland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland. A similar trend has been seen in the United Kingdom, where an increase in 1969–2000 appears to have been reversed. For example, the Fair Isle colony was estimated at 20,200 individuals in 1986, but it had been almost halved by 2012. Based on current trends, the European population will decline an estimated 50–79% between 2000 and 2065.
SOS Puffin is a conservation project at the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick to save the puffins on islands in the Firth of Forth. Puffin numbers on the island of Craigleith, once one of the largest colonies in Scotland with 28,000 pairs, have declined dramatically to just a few thousand due to the invasion of a large introduced plant, the tree mallow (Lavatera arborea). This has spread across the island in dense thickets and prevents the puffins from finding suitable sites for burrowing and breeding. The project has the support of over 700 volunteers and progress has been made in cutting back the plants, with puffins returning in greater numbers to breed. Another conservation measure undertaken by the centre is to encourage motorists to check under their cars in late summer before driving off, as young puffins, disorientated by the street lights, may land in the town and take shelter underneath the vehicles.
Project Puffin is an effort initiated in 1973 by Dr. Stephen W. Kress of the National Audubon Society to restore Atlantic puffins to nesting islands in the Gulf of Maine. Eastern Egg Rock Island in Muscongus Bay, about 10 km (6 mi) from Pemaquid Point, had been occupied by nesting puffins until 1885, when the birds disappeared because of overhunting. Counting on the fact young puffins usually return to breed on the same island where they fledged, a team of biologists and volunteers translocated 10– to 14-day-old nestlings from Great Island in Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock. The young were placed into artificial sod burrows, and fed with vitamin-fortified fish daily for about one month. Such yearly translocations took place until 1986, with 954 young puffins being moved in total. Each year before fledging, the young were individually tagged. The first adults returned to the island by 1977. Puffin decoys had been installed on the island to fool the puffins into thinking they were part of an established colony. This did not catch on at first, but in 1981, four pairs nested on the island. In 2014, 148 nesting pairs were counted on the island. In addition to demonstrating the feasibility of re-establishing a seabird colony, the project showed the usefulness of using decoys, and eventually call recordings and mirrors, to facilitate such re-establishment.


Since the Atlantic puffin spends its winters on the open ocean, it is susceptible to human actions and catastrophes such as oil spills. Oiled plumage has a reduced ability to insulate and makes the bird more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and less buoyant in the water. Many birds die, and others, while attempting to remove the oil by preening, ingest and inhale toxins. This leads to inflammation of the airways and gut and in the longer term, damage to liver and kidneys. This trauma can contribute to a loss of reproductive success and harm to developing embryos. An oil spill occurring in winter, when the puffins are far out at sea, may affect them less than inshore birds as the crude oil slicks soon get broken up and dispersed by the churning of the waves. When oiled birds get washed up on beaches around Atlantic coasts, only about 1.5% of the dead auks are puffins, but many others may have died far from land and sunk. After the oil tanker Torrey Canyon shipwreck and oil spill in 1967, few dead puffins were recovered, but the number of puffins breeding in France the following year was reduced to 16% of its previous level.
The Atlantic puffin and other pelagic birds are excellent bioindicators of the environment, as they occupy a high trophic level. Heavy metals and other pollutants are concentrated through the food chain, and as fish are the primary food source for Atlantic puffins, the potential is great for them to bioaccumulate heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic. Measurements can be made on eggs, feathers, or internal organs, and beached bird surveys, accompanied by chemical analysis of feathers, can be effective indicators of marine pollution by lipophilic substances, as well as metals. In fact, these surveys can be used to provide evidence of the adverse effects of a particular pollutant, using fingerprinting techniques to provide evidence suitable for the prosecution of offenders.


Climate change may well affect populations of seabirds in the northern Atlantic. The most important demographic may be an increase in the sea surface temperature, which may have benefits for some northerly Atlantic puffin colonies. Breeding success depends on ample supplies of food at the time of maximum demand, as the chick grows. In northern Norway, the main food item fed to the chick is the young herring. The success of the newly hatched fish larvae during the previous year was governed by the water temperature, which controlled plankton abundance, and this, in turn, influenced the growth and survival of the first-year herring. The breeding success of Atlantic puffin colonies has been found to correlate in this way with the water surface temperatures of the previous year.
In Maine, on the other side of the Atlantic, shifting fish populations due to changes in sea temperature are being blamed for the lack of availability of the herring, which is the staple diet of the puffins in the area. Some adult birds have become emaciated and died. Others have been provisioning the nest with butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus), but these are often too large and deep-bodied for the chick to swallow, causing it to die from starvation. Maine is on the southerly edge of the bird's breeding range, and with changing weather patterns, this may be set to contract northwards.


Breeding colonies of Atlantic puffins provide an interesting spectacle for bird watchers and tourists. For example, 4000 puffins nest each year on islands off the coast of Maine, and visitors can view them from tour boats that operate during the summers. The Project Puffin Visitor Center in Rockland provides information on the birds and their lives, and on the other conservation projects being undertaken by the National Audubon Society, which runs the center. Views of the colony on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge can be viewed via live cams during the breeding season.
Similar tours operate in Iceland, the Hebrides, and Newfoundland.


Historically, Atlantic puffins were caught and eaten fresh, salted in brine, or smoked and dried. Their feathers were used in bedding and their eggs were eaten, but not to the same extent as those of some other seabirds, being more difficult to extract from the nest. In most countries, Atlantic puffins are now protected by legislation, and in the countries where hunting is still permitted, strict laws prevent overexploitation. Although calls have been made for an outright ban on hunting puffins in Iceland because of concern over the dwindling number of birds successfully raising chicks, they are still caught and eaten there and on the Faroe Islands;
Traditional means of capture varied across the birds' range, and nets and rods were used in various ingenious ways. In the Faroe Islands, the method of choice was fleyg, with the use of a fleygingarstong, a 3.6-m-long pole with a small net at the end suspended between two rods, somewhat like a very long lacrosse stick. A few dead puffins were strewn around to entice incoming birds to land, and the net was flicked upwards to scoop a bird from the air as it slowed before alighting. Hunters often positioned themselves on cliff tops in stone seats built in small depressions to conceal themselves from puffins flying overhead. Most of the birds caught were subadults, and a skilled hunter could gather 200–300 in a day. Another method of capture, used in St Kilda, involved the use of a flexible pole with a noose on the end. This was pushed along the ground towards the intended target, which advanced to inspect the noose as its curiosity overcame its caution. A flick of the wrist would flip the noose over the victim's head and it was promptly killed, before its struggles could alarm other birds nearby.


The Atlantic puffin is the official bird symbol of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. In August 2007, the Atlantic puffin was unsuccessfully proposed as the official symbol of the Liberal Party of Canada by its deputy leader Michael Ignatieff, after he observed a colony of these birds and became fascinated by their behaviour. The Norwegian municipality of Værøy has an Atlantic puffin as its civic emblem. Puffins have been given a number of informal names including "clowns of the sea" and "sea parrots", and juvenile puffins may be called "pufflings".
A number of islands have been named after the bird. The island of Lundy in the United Kingdom is reputed to derive its name from the Norse lund-ey or "puffin island". An alternative explanation has been suggested connected with another meaning of the word "lund" referring to a copse or wooded area. The Vikings might have found the island a useful refuge and restocking point after their depredations on the mainland. The island issued its own coins, and in 1929, its own stamps with denominations in "puffins". Other countries and dependencies that have depicted Atlantic puffins on their stamps include Alderney, Canada, the Faroe Islands, France, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Iceland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, St Pierre et Miquelon, and the United Kingdom.
The publisher of paperbacks, Penguin Books, introduced a range of books for children under the Puffin Books brand in 1939. At first, these were nonfiction titles, but these were soon followed by a fiction list of well-known authors. The demand was so great that Puffin Book Clubs were introduced in schools to encourage reading, and a children's magazine called Puffin Post was established.
A tradition exists on the Icelandic island of Heimaey for the children to rescue young puffins, a fact recorded in Bruce McMillan's photo-illustrated children's book Nights of the Pufflings (1995). The fledglings emerge from the nest and try to make their way to the sea, but sometimes get confused, perhaps by the street lighting, ending up by landing in the village. The children collect them and liberate them to the safety of the sea.


Fraxinus albicans, commonly called the Texas ash, is a species of tree in the olive family (Oleaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found from  eastern Texas and southern Oklahoma in the United States, to the state of Durango in Mexico. Its natural habitat is in dry, rocky slopes, often over limestone.


It is a small deciduous tree growing to 10 m tall, with a trunk up to 30 cm diameter. The leaves are 13–20 cm long, pinnately compound with usually five rounded leaflets 3–7.5 cm long and 2–5 cm broad. The flowers are purple, produced in small clusters in early spring; like all ashes, the Texas ash is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees. The fruit is a samara 1.5–3 cm long, with an apical wing. It is long-lived and drought tolerant.
Like other species in the section Melioides, Fraxinus albicans is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.


Fraxinus albicans is closely related to Fraxinus americana (white ash), and is sometimes treated as a variety of it. Where they co-occur, Fraxinus albicans is found in dry habitats while Fraxinus americana is found in mesic bottoms. Fraxinus albicans  can be morphologically distinguished by its smaller leaves, smaller and more rounded leaflets, and smaller samaras.


Fraxinus pennsylvanica, the green ash or red ash, is a species of ash native to eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia west to southeastern Alberta and eastern Colorado, south to northern Florida, and southwest to Oklahoma and eastern Texas. It has spread and become naturalized in much of the western United States and also in Europe from Spain to Russia.
Other names more rarely used include downy ash, swamp ash and water ash.


Fraxinus pennsylvanica is a medium-sized deciduous tree reaching 12–25 metres (39–82 feet) (rarely to 45 m or 148 ft) tall with a trunk up to 60 centimetres (24 inches) in diameter. The bark is smooth and gray on young trees, becoming thick and fissured with age. The winter buds are reddish-brown, with a velvety texture. The leaves are 15–30 cm (6–12 in) long, oppositely arranged, pinnately compound with seven to nine (occasionally five or eleven) leaflets, these 5–15 cm (2–6 in) (rarely 18 cm or 7 in) long and 1.2–9 cm (1⁄2–3+9⁄16 in) broad, with serrated margins and short but distinct, downy petiolules a few millimeters long. They are green both above and below. The autumn color is golden-yellow and depending on the climate, green ash's leaves may begin changing color the first week of September. The flowers are produced in spring at the same time as the new leaves, in compact panicles; they are inconspicuous with no petals, and are wind-pollinated. The fruit is a samara 2.5–7.5 cm (1–3 in) long comprising a single seed 1.5–3 cm (5⁄8–1+1⁄8 in) long with an elongated apical wing 2–4 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄2 in) long and 3–7 mm (1⁄8–9⁄32 in) broad.
It is sometimes divided into two varieties, Fraxinus pennsylvanica var. pennsylvanica (red ash) and Fraxinus pennsylvanica var. lanceolata (Borkh.) Sarg. (syn. var. subintegerrima (Vahl) Fern.; green ash) on the basis of the hairless leaves with narrower leaflets of the latter, but the two intergrade completely, and the distinction is no longer upheld by most botanists.
Like other species in the section Melioides, Fraxinus pennsylvanica is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.


It is the most widely distributed of all the American ashes, although its range centers on the midwestern U.S. and Great Plains. The natural habitat of green ash is almost exclusively stream sides and bottomlands. The large seed crops provide food to many kinds of wildlife.
Green ash is threatened by the emerald ash borer, a beetle introduced accidentally from Asia. Asian ashes have a high tannin content in their leaves which makes them unpalatable to the beetle, while most American species (with the notable exception of blue ash) do not. A common garden experiment showed that green ash is killed readily when exposed to emerald ash borer, while the Asian species F. mandschurica shows resistance against emerald ash borer. The United States Forest Service has discovered small numbers of green ash in the wild that have remained healthy after emerald ash borer swept through the population. The possibility of these trees possessing genetic resistance to the beetle is currently being investigated with the hope that green ash could be restored using the surviving trees.
The spread of emerald ash borer was facilitated by the extensive use of green ash as an ornamental tree in the central U.S. following the loss of American elms in the 1950s–60s due to Dutch elm disease. That epidemic was the result of a similar overuse of elms in urban environments, leading to a monoculture that lacked any disease or pest resistance. Scientifically for green ash this is because modern cultivars utilized regionally were parented from sometimes only four individual trees selected for unique traits and male seedless flowering. Proclaiming a harsh lesson learned, cities like Chicago did not replace dead elms with a 1:1 ash:elm ratio. Instead, Norway, silver, red and sugar maples, honey locust, linden/basswood, redbud, crabapples, and hackberry, among others, were also utilized during this recovery period and in new urban and suburban areas. Fortunately, with these additional species, many cities were able to reduce the percent of ash and other species to much lower levels (20% average) than during the Dutch elm disease era where from 56% to 100% of the trees were elm.
Injections and spraying of ashes with pesticides has been used in city parks to protect valued trees from emerald ash borer.
Record cold temperatures during the winter of 2018–19 are estimated to have killed as much as 80% of ash borer larvae in the Upper Midwest.
Both American elm and green ash were extremely popular due to rapid growth and tolerance of urban pollution and road salt, so many housing developments in Michigan were lined from end to end with ashes, a result of which the beetles had an enormous food supply to boost their population well above Infestation thresholds. The tree was also extensively propagated and sold by local nurseries. According to the American Nursery Industry, "Back in the late 1980s, Dr. Frank Santamour Jr., then a research geneticist with the U.S. National Arboretum, proposed the 10-20-30 formula for diversity in the urban forest, limiting the plantings in a community to no more than 10 percent within a single species, 20 percent within a genus and 30 percent within a family." Many communities are using a more strict 5-10-20 rule today, because of the threat posed by emerald ash borer.
The emerald ash borer proved to be a far worse and potentially more serious threat than epidemics of the past such as chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease because those diseases spread at a slower rate, only affected one species, and did not kill the trees before they could attain reproductive maturity. Many areas have banned the sale of ash seedlings in nurseries, although seeds may be sold as they are not a vector for the insect.
Green ash is also vulnerable to many other diseases including ash yellows and dieback that can cause gradual loss of vigor and exhibit similar symptoms to emerald ash borer infestation such as crown dieback, bark cracking, and epicormal sprouts. These conditions are most common on stressed trees in areas of poor soil, urban pollution, and lack of moisture. A wave of ash dieback struck the northeastern United States in the 1950s–60s that killed an estimated 70% of ashes in the region.


Green ash is one of the most widely planted ornamental trees throughout the United States and much of Canada but mostly Alberta, including in western areas where it is not native. It is also widely planted in Argentina. It is very popular due to its good form and resistance to disease. About 40% of boulevard trees in Edmonton, Alberta, are green ash. It is often planted for shade or as a windbreak.
For the last two centuries American elm and ash, which both belong to the ancient Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Bottomland ecosystem, achieved distinction as North America's two most popularly planted urban species, used primarily for their superior survival traits and slowly maturing 180–300 year majestic natural beauty. Today used as living national monuments, the National Park Service is protecting Thomas Jefferson's 200-year-old planted example, and George Washington's 250-year-old white ash which has a 600-year possible lifespan. Green ash had been widely used as a primary ornamental and long lived monument tree until the elm fad of the 1880s, and regained top position once again after Dutch elm disease arrived.
Other continents learned of American ash species' urban survivability and unique beauty through the worldwide popularity of Midwestern Prairie style ecology and architectural movement. Modernizing cities in Russia and China then began using imported green ash a century ago to line streets and landscape new public parks. Advantages of green ash include its tolerance of harsh urban environmental conditions, ease of propagation, and (in eastern North America) its value for wildlife as a native keystone species.


North American native ash tree species are used by North American frogs as a critical food source, as the leaves that fall from the trees are particularly suitable for tadpoles to feed upon in ponds (both temporary and permanent), large puddles, and other water sources. Species such as red maple, which are taking the place of ash due to the ash borer, are much less suitable for the frogs as a food source — resulting in poor frog survival rates and small frog sizes. It is the lack of tannins in the American ash varieties that makes them good for the frogs as a food source and also not resistant to the ash borer. Varieties of ash from outside North America typically have much higher tannin levels and resist the borer. Maples and various non-native invasive trees, trees that are taking the place of American ash species in the North American ecosystem, typically have much higher leaf tannin levels. Ash species native to North America also provide important habit and food for various other creatures that are native to North America.


Green ash wood is similar in properties to white ash wood, and is marketed together as "white ash". The commercial supply is mostly in the South. It is very popular, used in making electric guitars because it can be somewhat lighter than white ash without sacrificing too much in tone. It has a bright sound with long sustain, plus the wood grain is aesthetically desirable to many guitar players. Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, Warwick, and many other luthiers use ash in the construction of their guitars.


The magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae. With a length of 89–114 centimetres (2 ft 11 in – 3 ft 9 in) and wingspan of 2.17–2.44 m (7 ft 1 in – 8 ft 0 in) it is the largest species of frigatebird. It occurs over tropical and subtropical waters off America, between northern Mexico and Perú on the Pacific coast and between Florida and southern Brazil along the Atlantic coast. There are also populations on the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific and the Cape Verde islands in the Atlantic.
The magnificent frigatebird is a large, lightly built seabird with brownish-black plumage, long narrow wings and a deeply forked tail. The male has a striking red gular sac which he inflates to attract a mate. The female is slightly larger than the male and has a white breast and belly. Frigatebirds feed on fish taken in flight from the ocean's surface (often flying fish), and sometimes indulge in kleptoparasitism, harassing other birds to force them to regurgitate their food.


The magnificent frigatebird was originally considered to belong to the species Fregata aquila but in 1914 the Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews proposed that the magnificent frigatebird should be considered as a separate species with the binomial name Fregata magnificens. Of the four other species within the genus Fregata, genetic analysis has shown that the magnificent frigatebird is most closely related to the Ascension frigatebird (Fregata aquila).
There are two subspecies:
F. m. magnificens - breeds on the Galápagos Islands
F. m. rothschildi - breeds on islands off the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America, the tropical Atlantic from Florida south to Brazil, and on the Cape Verde islands (where almost extirpated)
Prior to 2022, both these subspecies were considered synonymous with one another and grouped under F. m. magnificens. However, they were split by the International Ornithological Congress in 2022 based on a 2011 study which examined genetic and morphological variation in magnificent frigatebirds, finding both expected and also highly unexpected results. As predicted by the flight capacity of the species, the authors found signatures of high gene flow across most of the distribution range. This included evidence of recent gene flow among Pacific and Atlantic localities, likely across the Isthmus of Panama. This geological formation is a strong barrier to movement in most tropical seabirds. However, the same study also found that the magnificent frigatebird on the Galápagos Islands is genetically and morphologically distinct. Based on this study, the Galápagos population has not been exchanging any genes with their mainland counterparts for several hundred thousand years.


Christopher Columbus encountered magnificent frigatebirds when passing the Cape Verde Islands on his first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492. His journal for the voyage survives in a version made in the 1530s by Bartolomé de las Casas. The entry for 29 September reads in English:
They saw a bird that is called a frigatebird, which makes the boobies throw up what they eat in order to eat it herself, and she does not sustain herself on anything else. It is a seabird, but does not alight on the sea nor depart from land 20 leagues [97 km; 60 mi]. There are many of these on the islands of Cape Verde.
In the 15th century text the name of the bird is written as rabiforçado. The modern Spanish word for a frigatebird is rabihorcado or "forked tail".  A population of magnificent frigatebirds once bred on the Cape Verde Islands but is now probably extinct.
The word frigatebird derives from the French mariners' name for the bird La Frégate - a frigate or fast warship. The etymology of the name was given by French naturalist Jean-Baptiste du Tertre when describing the magnificent frigatebird in 1667. English mariners referred to frigatebirds as Man-of-War birds. This name was used by the English explorer William Dampier in his book An Account of a New Voyage Around the World published in 1697:
The Man-of-War (as it is called by the English) is about the bigness of a Kite, and in shape like it, but black; and the neck is red. It lives on Fish yet never lights on the water, but soars aloft like a Kite, and when it sees its prey, it flys down head foremost to the Waters edge, very swiftly takes its prey out of the Sea with his Bill, and immediately mounts again as swiftly; never touching the Water with his Bill. His Wings are very long; his feet are like other Land-fowl, and he builds on Trees, where he finds any; but where they are wanting on the ground.
The modern name Frigate Bird was used in 1738 by the English naturalist and illustrator Eleazar Albin in his A Natural History of the Birds. The book included an illustration of the male bird showing the red gular pouch.
Like the genus name, the English term is derived from the French mariners' name for the bird la frégate—a frigate or fast warship.
The genus name, Fregata has the same source as the English term, and magnificens is Latin for "splendidly", from magnificus, "grand".


The magnificent frigatebird is widespread in the tropical Atlantic, breeding colonially in trees in Florida, the Caribbean and also along the Pacific coast of the Americas from Mexico to Ecuador, including the Galápagos Islands.
It has occurred as a vagrant as far from its normal range as the Isle of Man, Denmark, Spain, England, Nova Scotia, the Magdalen Islands, and British Columbia.


The magnificent frigatebird is the largest species of frigatebird. It measures 89–114 cm (2 ft 11 in – 3 ft 9 in) in length, has a wingspan of 2.17–2.44 m (7 ft 1 in – 8 ft 0 in) and weighs 1.1–1.59 kilograms (2 lb 7 oz – 3 lb 8 oz).  Males are all-black with a scarlet throat pouch that is inflated like a balloon in the breeding season. Although the feathers are black, the scapular feathers produce a purple iridescence when they reflect sunlight, in contrast to the male great frigatebird's green sheen. Females are black but have a white breast and lower neck sides, a brown band on the wings, and a blue eye-ring that is diagnostic of the female of the species. Immature birds have a white head and underparts.
This species is very similar to the other frigatebirds and is similarly sized to all but the lesser frigatebird. However, it lacks a white axillary spur, and juveniles show a distinctive diamond-shaped belly patch. The magnificent frigatebird is silent in flight, but makes various rattling sounds at its nest.
It spends days and nights on the wing, with an average flapping rate of 2.84 beat per second, ground speed of 10 km/h (6.2 mph), covering up to 223 km (139 mi) before landing. They alternately climb in thermals, to altitudes occasionally as high as 2,500 m (8,200 ft), and descend to near the sea surface. The only other bird known to spend days and nights on the wing is the common swift.


This bird makes a shallow platform nest on top of both trees and bushes on islands and cays with mangroves. This nest is constructed out of branches and twigs.
The magnificent frigatebird lays a clutch of one clear white egg that measures 68 by 47 millimetres (2+3⁄4 by 1+3⁄4 in) on average. This egg is incubated by both sexes for a period of 50 to 60 days. After the egg hatches, the male parent will abandon it, with the female staying to provision for the young for almost a year.


This species feeds mainly on fish, squid, jellyfish and crustaceans. Individual bird diets vary depending on food availability, preferred hunting technique, gender, and age.
It is a kleptoparasite, pecking at other seabirds to force them to disgorge their meals. After forcing the other seabird to regurgitate its meal, the magnificent frigatebird will dive and catch the prey before it hits the surface of the water.


The Galápagos population of the magnificent frigatebird may warrant a separate conservation status. This small population of genetically unique magnificent frigatebirds is vulnerable. Any catastrophic event or threats by humans could wipe out the population of approximate two-thousand magnificent frigatebirds that nest on the Galápagos Islands. Magnificent frigatebirds are currently classified as of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but because of the genetic uniqueness of those on the Galápagos Islands this may need to be revisited.
This population on Cape Verde is thought to be extremely low and on the brink of extinction, despite the original sighting of this species by Columbus likely being that of the Cape Verde population. Protection of the frigatebird's breeding sites is necessary for the species' recovery.