Fooling the air borne pirates!

The Christmas frigate bird is a large lightly built seabird with brownish-black plumage, long narrow wings and a deeply forked tail. It has a wingspan of around 2.15 m (7.1 ft). The male has an egg shaped white patch on its belly and a striking red gular sac which it inflates to attract a mate.

The female is slightly larger than the male and has a white breast and belly. They feed on fish taken in flight from the ocean's surface (mostly flying fish), and sometimes indulge in kleptoparasitism- a phenomenon where they harass other birds to force them to regurgitate their food or drop them, so that they can eat it themselves.

The Christmas frigate is endemic to Christmas Island, and is genetically related to the Great Frigate Bird. However, it is included under the “Critically Endangered” Species list as its population is under attack by the invasive Yellow Crazy Ant species and other human activity.

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The seabirds of Christmas Island were engaged in serious discussion. All of them, except the Christmas Frigate birds, had been invited to the meeting, because the meeting happened to be about the atrocious behaviour of the Frigate birds. Most of those assembled looked grave, and some of them looked plain desperate.

“We’ve really got to stop this menace. I know they’re seabirds too, but I do think they’re going too far”, said a Red-footed Booby bird.

“Well, you can’t deny they’re stronger, and I’d like to say very honestly that I simply do not have the strength to stand up to them”, said a Silver Bosun bird resignedly. “I’d rather go away from here to a quieter place with my family. And I would advise you to do the same.”

Hisses and boos rose from many of the birds. “Coward!” cried a few.

“No way we’re going to cower in fear in front of our tormentors!”

“And besides, our families have been here in the east part of the island for centuries! It’s a shame if we move away!”

“We’ll show those bullies that we’ve the right to the ocean too!”

But a Golden Bosun bird spoke up in defence of the poor Silver Bosun who had been shushed into submission.
“Well, if you’re all that smart and brave, why are we having this meeting here at all? Stand up to those bullies when they attack!”

The assembly hemmed and hawed. “We’re trying, we’re trying”, muttered a bird.

“That’s not what we meant at all”, grumbled another.

“Then stop bragging and let’s arrive at a conclusion that suits all of us”, rebuked the Golden Bosun, before the assembly lapsed into a grim silence.

The Christmas Frigate birds were the bane of the other seabirds. Despite being quite large and strong, the Frigate birds never bothered to hunt on their own.

They seemed more interested in the food that other seabirds caught, and pursued them like human muggers on streets, and either stole the food they had caught from their beaks or bullied them into giving it up. The other seabirds hardly got enough food to survive, and they had a hard time avoiding these “pirate seabirds”.

“What if we all got together and declared war on them?” suggested one bird.

“Impossible; there’s too many of them out there. Do you want us all to end up injured or dead? At least we’re only hungry now!” retorted another.

“Then let’s declare a truce!” piped up a small Brown Noddy bird.

“Truce or no truce, we’ll still be the losers. Do you think those pirates would bother giving us any benefits with a peace treaty?” said an older bird.

“What if we take the help of any enemies of the Frigate birds?” suggested the Red-footed Booby bird. “After all, the enemy of an enemy is a friend!”

“That rule doesn’t work in the jungle, my friend”, said the Golden Bosun. “It’s the survival of the fittest here. Did you mean to take the help of the Yellow Crazy ants? Be assured that once they’re done with the Frigate birds, they’ll come for us!”

There seemed to be some obstacle or the other to every solution that they came up with. Soon, everyone was exhausted of pitching in useless ideas.

At last, a Brown Booby bird spoke up. “Let’s pretend we’re all going away from here”, he said. “We’ll ensure that the Frigate birds hear our plans of leaving this side of the island and moving to the west side.

They’ll know they won’t have any of us around to bully, and they won’t get any food. So they’ll move away themselves to the west side of the island!”

“But what will we do? Will we really go away to the west side too?” asked a bird.

“No, we won’t! Most of us will fly in the western direction, but go only half way and hide behind the rocks on that smaller island out in the sea.

A small number of us will stay back here, hidden, to ensure that the Frigate birds really leave the area. Later on, we can come back!”

Everyone seemed to think this was a good idea. “But what if those Frigate birds find out that we’ve fooled them? Won’t they come charging back?” asked the Silver Bosun.

“They might, but it’s not all that easy to fly all the way back to this side of the island. Once they’ve reached the west side, they’ll probably be too tired to think of coming back and will find a way to survive there”, said the Brown Booby bird.

All the seabirds agreed. They split themselves into two groups, a large group consisting of majority of them, and a smaller group consisting of only 10-15 birds.

The smaller group found safe hiding places around the shore, from where they could watch the Frigate birds. Then the larger group, led by the Brown Booby bird, began their elaborate pretence.

They made sure the Frigate birds heard them discussing their plans to leave, and the Booby birds made a huge ruckus as though they were preparing for a long flight.

The Bosun birds went around talking loudly about how abundant food was on the west side of the island, and how they were all going to partake of the treats of the Paradise on the west.

It was quite an act, and the Frigate birds couldn’t ignore it. They heard all that was being said, and they wondered if it really was all that wonderful on the west side of the island.

They watched as the other seabirds took flight in unison, setting out towards the west shore.

But of course, the seabirds had landed on the smaller rocky island instead of flying all the way west. As they stayed hidden there, the Frigate birds discussed their own chances of survival.

It was of course easier to steal from other birds by bullying them, and if there were no birds left to bully, what could they do?

Best if they too migrated to the west side of the island, they thought, and soon, they took flight as well!

The spies of the other seabirds hidden along the shore watched as the Frigate birds left, and they silently congratulated themselves on the success of their plan.

They waited a long time, and once they were sure that that there was no chance of the Frigate birds coming back, they called back the other birds hiding on the rocky island.

All the seabirds were elated, and the Brown Booby bird was congratulated for his clever plan. For several days to come, they spoke of nothing but how they had managed to fool the Frigate birds.

“Ha, those lousy pirates”, they said. “We got the better of them after all!”

Now they had the entire sea and its fish to themselves. Months passed by, and then one day, they had a visitor. It was a Booby bird from the west part of the island.

“Looks like they’ve started becoming the victims now”, giggled the Bosun birds. “That must be why he’s come. Let’s ask him how things are on the west shore.”

The Booby bird however, smiled at them and seemed quite relaxed. “Aren’t the Frigate birds bothering you there?” asked the Bosun birds.

“Well, they do bother us sometimes”, he said. “But it’s alright. It’s not that bad.”

The Bosun birds exchanged suspicious glances. “But surely, they bother you a lot for food? You birds must be starving because of them.”

The Booby bird looked surprised. “No, we all get on quite well. You see, there’s a lot of food available there. Schools of flying fish frequently go by the currents on the west side, and the Frigate birds catch them as they fly into the air.

So they have their fill, and we have ours. You could say it’s a food paradise for us there.”

The poor seabirds were quite shocked. Their well-planned lie had turned out to be the truth! They cursed their own ill-luck for trying to fool the Frigate birds and missing out on the opportunity to be part of a real paradise!