Today Colby Neuman and I led 2 field trips to Cape Meares as part of the OBA
annual meeting. Between the cape and Three Arch Rocks we found a milling mass
of 7-10,000 Sooty Searwaters, plus N Pelicans, gulls, etc. In the mass Colby
picked up a Booby. We tried to follow it as it moved away from us to the
south. It appeared to be a large whitish bird, torpedo-shaped, smaller than
the pelicans. It was hard to follow at a mile distant.My group left the
lighthouse area to walk up the path on the south side of the cape, still
looking at the ocean.At 10 AM I was looking down on a swarm of sooties close
below the viewpoint, when I picked up the booby again and followed it for 30
sec to a minute. It had an all-white head. The entire mantle was a soft
scalloped brown. The trailing edge of the brown continued across the back.
The tail was lighter, not continuous brown.My conclusion: Blue-footed
Booby.Paul Sullivan
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
