The bird you saw was a Magnificent Frigatebird, Fregata magnificens. I
spent hours on the beach at Las Palapas watching these birds. I had thought
they were a type of Jaeger, but the description did not match what I saw.
Just now I looked at Peterson, and on page 85, I saw this bird I, too, had
not identified yet. Thanks for asking the question.

Wallis

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> From: Vikcha at aol.com
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: RE: Puerto Vallarta
> Date: Wednesday, December 30, 1998 4:04 AM
>
> Sorry I don't have any advice on birding in Puerto Vallarta, but I *do*
have
> an additional question. When I was down there in March a couple of years
ago,
> there were these incredibly beautiful, large, black birds constantly
soaring
> in the breeze right along the waterfront. They were amazing to watch; it
> seemed they could go for hours (I may be exaggerating) without ever a
wing-
> flap. There were lots of them, pretty much omnipresent. Not really being
into
> birding at the time, I had no bird book or binoculars with me, and have
yet to
> figure out what they were. Can someone tell me what they might have been?