Jul 20 2010
Brown Booby in Delaware Bay
Whenever the display on my cell phone reads, “Frank Rohrbacher,” I have a very predictable Pavlovian response. I feel the adrenaline start to flow and I instantly throttle up to the birder equivalent of DEFCON 2. Of course, Frank will call about ordinary matters from time to time, but variable-schedule reinforcement is the most potent kind and my subconscious clearly has forged an unbreakable link: “call from Frank Rohrbacher = news of rare bird.”
This morning, that call came in around 8 AM. Frank wanted to e-mail me pictures he was nearly certain were of a booby (only birders get to write sentences like that with a straight face). “It came aboard a party fishing boat yesterday afternoon and Steve Cardano shot some pictures of it,” he intoned in a voice that has lost very little of its New England character despite years in the mid-Atlantic. “The amazing part is the darn thing rode the boat all the way back into the harbor in Lewes. Would you be able to run down there and have a look?”
By that time, the pictures had arrived in my inbox. I looked at them quickly, searching for signs that it might be a scarce but not unheard-of summer gannet. Nope. This was a booby all right. Could it possibly be a Red-footed Booby? Didn’t look like it. Less than adult sulids can be something of an identification nightmare, but I felt certain enough this was in fact a Brown.* This would make it Delaware’s first and any day your state gets a life bird is one to remember.
“Liz and I will be down there inside of twenty minutes–we’ll let you know as soon as we find anything,” I said, and I began hastily grabbing the appropriate gear for such an expedition; i.e., binoculars, scope, cameras. That’s right, cameraS.
Brown Booby (side) aboard the Thelma Dale IV photo ©Steve Cardano
Arriving at Fisherman’s Wharf in downtown Lewes, we began our search. The Thelma Dale IV was back out on the water by then, so we couldn’t inspect the boat itself. We looked all around the docks, then made our way along the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal and out to Roosevelt Inlet, scanning the pilings for any sign of this wayward tropical seabird. I also made a point of looking in the water where it was visible, as there was the grim possibility that the bird might have perished overnight.
Finding nothing, we got in touch with Steve Cardano. He offered to call the boat’s captain, but not until 10:30, when they would be in place for the morning’s fishing. We continued looking around, talking to the woman who sells tickets for fishing and sightseeing trips, and waiting. Steve called back and said that after the boat docked on Monday, one of the crew who knew of someone with a connection to a local marine mammal rescue group had captured the bird–apparently with no difficulty–and taken it to their facility, which is just down the road from the docks.
We raced down to the marine mammal place, MERR. It turned out that our information wasn’t completely accurate. The bird had been boxed and transported, but to Tri-State Bird Rescue in Newark, Delaware, at the north end of the state. Many of you will know Tri-State from their work in the Gulf of Mexico during the current Deepwater Horizon disaster; they’ve long been a leader in salvaging oiled birds and do lots of good work all around.
Whoever answered the phone at Tri-State told Suzanne, the director of MERR, that they had received a gannet from Lewes that had come ashore aboard a fishing boat and were caring for it. Suzanne told the rehabber that she had been shown photos of the bird by an expert in bird identification and that the bird looked awfully good for Brown Booby, but was firmly told that, no, it was a gannet. A professor had looked at the photos and said so. Oh well.**
Now that the search for the bird is over, there are of course a few lingering questions. From a bird records standpoint, it’s important to know where the bird came aboard the boat. The e-mail I have from Steve says, “30 degrees 51 min. N and 75 degrees 10 min. W. or approximately 8 miles north of Lewes, DE in the Delaware Bay.” There’s a little bit of confusion here, because that latitude doesn’t cross Delaware Bay. It’s closer to Cumberland Island, Georgia, just north of the Florida line. So I’m thinking it’s likely 38 degrees 51 min. N. That would be somewhere not too far offshore from Broadkill Beach, Delaware. 3.43 miles NE of the May, 2008 Wood Sandpiper, as I measure it. That looks more like 6 miles north of Lewes to me, so I’m still a little unsure. In any event, when I get more detailed information on the location I’ll be sure to spread the word.
I’ll leave any discussion of ship-assisted vagrancy to others. I’ve always been of the opinion that if a bird isn’t somehow restrained, intentionally or unintentionally, it matters little whether it hitched a ride on an aircraft carrier or a coconut.
Another issue that’s been raised is whether the bird belongs in rehab or not. I can’t say. Steve’s opinion was that it wasn’t emaciated (he lightly touched it in the chest, which it tolerated). But it did remain aboard the boat and didn’t make any move to evade capture, so perhaps it was starving or otherwise in distress. The folks at Tri-State will be in a much better position to judge. Again, I’ll pass on any word.
Finally, I don’t know anything about when and where the bird will be released, if it survives. Earlier this year, a rehabbed Red-footed Booby made headlines by hanging around shore in South Florida for quite a while.
All in all, a fascinating record. And another yet another reason I’ll always jump–in the best way–when my phone reads, “Frank Rohrbacher.”
*Peter Pyle comments, after being sent the photo by Mary Gustafson: “Brown, no problem. Red-foots have red feet at all ages out of the nest and a black bill as a juv that becomes pinkish and bluish within the first year, never slate like this. I can also just see the breast cut-off, never found in Red-footed. Many things eliminate Masked. So juvenile Brown.”
**According to birder-photographer extraordinaire Kim Steininger, who volunteers with Tri-State, they are now comfortable with the identification of Brown Booby.
[...] have bit of news and some eye candy to add to the story of Delaware’s first Brown Booby, which came aboard the Thelma Dale IV on Monday, 19 July 2010 and rode the boat back into the [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sharon Stiteler, tossey. tossey said: Neat blog post by @jeffgyr on a Brown Booby (yes – the bird & neat- a 1st!) found in #Delaware Bay: http://bit.ly/bCwzDO [...]
Jeff if you want the details call me you have gotten the info. Bird came aboard in Delaware waters appx 10:30 in morning on board the Keen LadyIV. And yes it did ride the boat all the way into lewes and back out again and managed to avoid a Lab on board for both trips. It was fed minniows by crew and passangers alike as well as beining touched a couple of times. That evening we did not go back out so one of the mates boxed him up for transport to Tri state.
I was the mate that Capt. Mike mentioned. I took a particular interest in the boobie because I am currently studying marine biology at the University of Maine at Machias. Not yet having taken the coarse on marine mammals and pelagic birds, the first person I called was the professor who teaches the coarse. When I first called her, she thought that I was talking about a gannett. When I sent her the pictures that I took with my 12.1 megapixel digial camera, she came to the conclusion that it was a red footed boobie because the feet were a pinkish orange in the photo’s (including the ones above), whereas the brown boobie has distinctly yellow feet. However, if local experts are convinced that it is a brown boobie, neither she nor I will dispute that too loudly. Anyway, she said that the best thing I could do for the bird was find a rescue center for it and take it there. When I told her that the nearest rescue center was an hour away and that I would have to take the bird there in the morning, she said that I should try to find a local center or person that could take the bird to the clinic in the morning. It was at this point that I thought of the MERR Institute, as they have good facilities and people. I decided to take the bird there. So I put it in a box and drove it to the the facility. But no one was there and I could not get in contact with anyone for the facility. Now trying to figure out when to send this bird, I called the University in Lewes and Tri-State, both of which were fruitless. I then called my grandparents and they got out the phone book to look up anyone that could help. It is at this point that I got in contact with the Brid Lover’s Loft and Lisa Kane. We met at the Happy Harry’s in Lewes for me to hand over the bird. I told her that it liked minnows, and she promptly drove with the bird the bait shop to get the minnows. I can’t speak to the details of what happened after that, but I believe that the Bird spent the night in her bathtub surrounded by minnows and water. She took the bird to Tri-State early the next morning. According to what Tri-State told her, the bird was very hungry and exhausted and decided to land on one of the biggest boats it could find (why not a supertanker or the ferry is beyond me). It is expected to make a full recovery. They have not made a release date, but is early yet.
Hello Bird Lovers,
I’m Lisa Kane of Bird Lover’s Loft in Lewes. I’ve done companion bird rescue (parrots) for years but I get calls about wild birds sometimes. I do my best to be of assistance, but also work full time, so it is a fluke I was near the phone when this call came in 8pm. Special thanks are in order for the caring, concern and quick thinking of Jacob Berninger on the boat, Jacob’s grandfather for finding my phone number, and generosity of Joe Morris, for supplying free minnows shortly after closing time at Lewes Harbor Marina Bait & Tackle. I noticed the cute little bird had web feet and seemed to be under weight, so the most appropriate place I had to set this little bird and minnows up for the night was in the bath tub. The Brown Booby, or “BB” for short, was very comfortable, taking a bath in the fresh water, preening, eating minnows, then promptly falling asleep with a full tummy as the last light of dusk faded through the sky light. 5am I checked in to see BB had eaten most of the minnows, so I drove down and got more. 6am after BB had a light minnow breakfast, we were on the road, BB in a large box lined with paper towels riding in the passenger seat, remaining minnows in a bucket. BB had a good appetite and was a calm and pleasant patient over night in the tub as well as during the 2 hour drive to Tri State Bird Rescue. I had a baby Great Horned Owl rescue this past Sunday, so naturally as I was at Tri State, I asked about BB. I wish I knew how to post a photo here, just tried and it didn’t work, but I have pics of BB in my tub “fishing” and a nice photo of BB in his much larger recovery area at Tri State. BB’s prognosis is very good, apparently a young bird, in need of some weight gain, BB is expected to make full recovery. I feel very blessed to have been able to help this bird, and even more so to meet fellow bird lovers such as you, who care.