Brown Booby, Sula leucogaster
Ah, boobies- so often the targets of birding innuendos, and so often the targets of far-flung chasing. Boobies are usually found in tropical waters far from most North American birders, and the Brown Booby is no exception. The Brown Booby is typically found by most birders in the Floridian Dry Tortugas, and even this is not an easy trip. Fortunately (for birders), recent hurricanes blew a juvenile Brown Booby into Summit County, Ohio, the last week of August. At the same time, I found out that another Brown Booby had been found in the New York Hudson Valley’s Ashokan Reservoir.
I received all of this information while I was house-sitting in Michigan, a state without any Brown Boobies to speak of. I had already seen my lifer Brown Booby in San Francisco, so I was a little hesitant to drive 12 hours round-trip to maybe see a bird in Ohio when I could play with Common Loons about ten minutes from me instead. But by the end of that week, I learned that I would be the new hawk watcher at Greenwich Audubon in Connecticut and I was soon back in my car embarking on my 15 hour drive back east. Earlier that morning, my friend in CT texted me a photo of the beautiful adult Brown Booby at the Ashokan, and I decided then that no matter how many more hours it added to my drive I was not going to be outdone.
Finding the Brown Booby in Ohio was ridiculously easy. The metro-park had wonderfully labeled parking lot signs that corresponded to eBird reports, and when I arrived at the correct lot it was obvious that the booby was close by. Dozens of people with masks, huge cameras, camo, and binoculars were all heading down a thin path into the trees by the water’s edge. It took about two minutes to reach the shoreline, and the Brown Booby was posing like a celebrity right above our heads. The hardest part of the whole venture was making sure not to step in poison ivy.
Ohio’s Brown Booby. Score!
The Ohio Brown Booby, as a juvenile, admittedly did not look as dapper as the one in the picture my friend texted me, but I was still smitten. It had a bill of washed out blue, and light orange webbed feet that looked like crepes wrapped around a branch. It was mostly still as I watched, occasionally twisting its head to look behind it. All of the people gathered were so considerate, and we all figured out how to move around and take turns getting the best looks so we could adhere to social distancing.
Thirty minutes late, I was back in the car and on my way to Connecticut. A few days later, I find out, to my horror, that I saw the Ohio Brown Booby only days before it was attacked and killed by (most likely) a Peregrine Falcon. Yikes.
Since the NY Brown Booby was still there the following Monday, I decided it was only fitting that I take this crazy opportunity to see two Brown Boobies hundreds of miles outside of their range in less than a week. A much shorter drive later, I said hello to the White Pelican (who has been at the Ashokan Reservoir for quite a while) before heading over to find the Brown Booby. I had seen some really great photos taken of it fishing, so I was hoping I would get to see it in action. Booby plunge-diving is amazing, and Brown Boobies expertly slice through the water by tucking in their wings and tail after diving out of the sky. However, since it was evening, the booby was instead perched on what looked like a yellow submarine with a group of Double-crested Cormorant. Not the greatest of views because of the lighting, but it was still amazing to see such a rare bird so close to where I grew up birding!
Adult Brown Booby at the Ashokan Reservoir with its Double-crested Cormorant friends
To commemorate seeing two Brown Boobies in a week, I made this Bird of the Day painting a combination of both experiences: an adult Brown Booby (from the Ashokan, but in non-breeding plumage) sits on a branch (as did the bird in Ohio) and looks up at its Double-crested Cormorant friends flying in ahead of, alas, a Peregrine Falcon. I like to think that this amalgamation of Brown Boobies will have a happy ending despite that little inclusion!