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Re: Blue-footed booby



Folks:
	As Chair of the NC Bird Records Committee, I want to know more about
this. I already got two calls last night!

My guess is that an error was made along the way. The Blue-footed Booby
is a Pacific Ocean bird. There are no Atlantic Coast records, I don't
believe. As the correspondence was second-hand (Clyde didn't see the
bird), here is my take:

I think Micou saw a Masked Booby. Masked Booby used to be called
Blue-faced Booby (the Birds of the Carolinas book in 1980 uses that name
(with Masked Booby in parentheses). Either Micou got the name mixed up,
or else Clyde could have heard "Blue-faced" and thought Micou meant
"Blue-footed".

As folks know, Masked = Blue-faced is regular off the Atlantic, and has
been seen once or twice previously in a bird colony on the NC coast, in
the lower Cape Fear River. We may average one sighting a year on NC
pelagic trips, and I've seen it 4-5 times over the years. Even if the
bird WAS a Masked Booby, that is still a good find. (I doubt the bird
was a Gannet. Gannets nest on cliffs, and shouldn't be found in a
nesting bird colony on a sandy island in NC. I'm sure Micou knows a
Gannet. I'm sure Micou knows his booby species, as I know him and he has
been birding in NC for about 40 years. I think a name got changed in the
process.)

I'd love for all of us to see a Blue-footed Booby in the Carolinas (I've
seen it in Ecuador), but I'd hate to think one was seen "last Friday"
and it took about 4 days for the word to reach other birders. I'd also
hate to think a photograph wasn't taken, though I don't know if the
banders out there have/had cameras with them.

I'm sure we'll hear more about this!  

Harry LeGrand

Clyde Sorenson wrote:
> 
> All,
> 
> If you are in the vicinity of Ocracoke keep your eyes peeled- Micou
> Browne and his banding partners almost caught an adult blue-footed booby
> resting in a pelican colony on a bird island near Ocracoke this past Friday.
> 
> Take care,
> 
> Clyde Sorenson
> Clayton and Raleigh, NC

-- 
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
DENR   Office of Conservation and Community Affairs
1601 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1601
(919) 715-8697 (work)
FAX: 919-715-3085
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net