Brown Booby Delight!

 Every now and then a bird that is so good shows up that the "all call" via Google Groups, Facebook, phone calls and private sharing goes out to summons birders to the location. The bird this time was a great Brown Booby.

 Recently, there had been a couple of off-shore reports of a Brown Booby landing on vessels. Hope was high  one of these birds would make its way to the island. This one did, hitching a ride with a ship from the Grand Banks. The ship came to shore to avoid the Dorian effect. Lucky us.

 The ship docked in St. John's Harbour at 2 a.m. September 7. When the crew awoke the next morning, they found this guy sitting atop a light. Once I heard the "call," I rushed to the harbourfront somewhat sceptical the bird would still be there.

 To my surprise and delight, there it sat, one of the easiest "twitches" of all time. Numerous birders gathered on the dock to marvel at our latest arrival.

 During the short time I was present, the bird hardly opened its eyes. It must have been trying to recover a bit from its long trip. I was only able to capture three shots with its small eyes open. However, as the morning wore on, I did see some photos with its eyes wide open, gathering steam for its departure, perhaps.

 It is interesting its reactions to its surroundings must have been based on its auditory senses. It seemed awake turning its head frequently, just too tired to open its eyes. I have had mornings like that ;).

 For information about previous records of the Brown Booby in Newfoundland, I encourage you to visit Jared Clarke's site at:  https://birdtherock.com/brown-booby/

This is the second extremely rare bird that has shown up within the last week. The Rosette Tern was the other. Who knows what else might be driven in by Dorian? Eyes wide open.