"Life at Sea." Magnificent frigate birds harassing fishermen over the Nicoya Gulf. Frigates are only technically considered terrestrial; evolution has taken them to a point where they rarely— if ever— step onto dry land. Because their skeletons weigh less than their feathers, they are perfectly suited for a life spent on the wing. They nest on the steep slopes of offshore islands; I can vividly remember taking a boat out to what the locals called Isla Ave (Bird Island) across the border in Panama to find one hundred frigates nesting on the sheer faces of the unforgiving rock cliffs. Perhaps because they consider all of this hard work, frigates are notoriously lazy when it comes to hunting; they are known to chase down other birds and force them to regurgitate their own hard-won sustenance, and they will even go as far as preying on the nestlings of other species. They are no friend of the fishers either; I have seen it happen more than once that a frigate makes off with a fisherman’s fresh catch. If you ever want to find the place the fish are biting, all you have to do is follow the frigates, and you will find the fishermen.