Tuesday, 29 October 2002, I was driving north on I-75 just north of Atlanta and approaching exit 283. As we crossed over Lake Allatoona (probably mile 280), I noticed a bird flying just ahead of me on the left that was black and large, but with a very flat profile. The wings seemed strange to me--almost concave from that instant glance that I gave it. (Keep in mind I'm driving the car at 75 mph with traffic all around). My brain quickly ran through it's elimination process; too flat for a vulture, too large for a hawk, too black for an eagle. So I hung onto the bird and managed to glance two more times at it. My final look was directly to my left where I could see the long bent wings and the forked tail. Jim, my husband, saw the wings also. I looked at him and said "that was a (darn) frigatebird". He agreed that we were not crazy; indeed it was a Magnificent Frigatebird. He called and asked Art Hurt to put it on GABO and we stopped at the next exit to call Giff Beaton (the only number I had with me.)

After we saw the bird, I remarked to Jim that I remembered the remnants of Hurricane Kenna had passed through Mexico and Texas and brought strong southerly winds to the SE. Apparently this bird was carried in by this system. Way to go hurricanes!!!

Had I not seen it then, someone else would have. I just happened to see it and ID it first. Life is all about timing.

Additional photos and an account of this species may be found on Bob and Deb Zaremba's Georgia Birding pages.

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