A rare sighting of a Nazca Booby (Sula granti) in Bodega Harbor today (5 June 2022). Many thanks to Peter Colasanti for spotting the bird and to Rick LeBaudour for sharing two excellent photos (above and below).
Nazca Boobies are resident in the Eastern Tropical Pacific — primarily breeding on the Galapagos Islands, Malpelo Island off Colombia, as well as smaller islands from Peru to Mexico. They're rare in Northern California and this is the first record for Sonoma County.
This individual spent time throughout Bodega Harbor today, ranging from the north end near Mason's Marina and Porto Bodega and along the boat channel to the Coast Guard Station. Not sure if it will be around tomorrow, but it would be worth a look!
It was a little distant for my camera/lens, but here are a few more shots. Look for the orange bill and the white feathers in the center of the tail (from above, see last photo). These features help distinguish it from Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra).
2 comments:
Oh, how I wish I had been there to see this magnificent bird! Thank you for these photos!!!
Hi, Alice!
This was a tricky bird. I think it only stayed around for one day. I found out about it via North Bay Birds, an e-mail listserve for bird sightings in the North Bay area. You can sign up to receive messages, or I think you might be able to review recent messages online:
https://groups.io/g/northbaybirds/topics
or you can see North Bay Birds and other birding lists here:
http://digest.sialia.com/?rm=all_lists
Jackie
P.S. After folks started using eBird, I haven't seen as many messages on North Bay Birds. You can also check eBird sightings directly, but those reports sometimes don't get submitted until sometime after the initial sighting: https://ebird.org/region/US-CA-097
Post a Comment