After reading Saturday's post by Todd Day before signing off shortly after
midnight, I set alarm for early morning departure to avoid heavy traffic.
Luckily, I was spared the gridlock going down but return trip early
afternoon was bumper-to-bumper, mostly stopped with some going from 3 miles
east of the Hampton tunnel all the way to I-295 just outside Richmond.
I arrived by 10 a.m. and joined Fenton Day who was holding vigilance on the
deck overlooking the beach and the pilings over 100 yards away. No booby!
It would not be until around 11:03 a.m. when Renee Hudgins first spotted it
perched on piling #7 (counting right to left). Although several individuals
had been holding vigilance none of us saw where it flew in from. For that
matter, we didn't even see it fly in. It remained on the same piling for
well over an hour moving off the pilings only once when one boat passed by
too close. It flew a short distance, circling back and over the pilings,
taking claim to #3 piling. Noticeably smaller than the many Brown Pelican,
it also appeared somewhat smaller than the 2-3 nearby Doubled-crested
Cormorant. In flight, the upper body appeared uniformly brown. The head and
neck was much browner than the washed out brownish/gray belly. Viewing
through the spotting scope and binoculars, the feet were noticeably bright
yellow. Unfortunately, I was not able to adequately capture this feature on
film. The pale bill appeared to have a bluish tinge at the base.
In addition to Fenton and Renee, some of the other observers included John
Young, John Porter, Mike Iwanik , Vicky Gullet and several non-birding
visitors curious as to what we were looking at. It was also a special treat
to see Ben Copeland venturing out to see another life bird.
A special "Thanks" to Fenton for carrying my scope as we trudged across the
very soft sand to get a bit closer. Viewing from the shoreline, the bird
was still a good distance out but the heat shimmer was not as noticeable.
I managed to get a few digiscoped images, not the best, but certainly enough
to document the BROWN BOOBY. LINK BELOW
http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/image_links/BrownBooby_link.htm
Brenda
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Brenda Tekin
Charlottesville, VA
"Leave behind what you find; if you must take something, take pictures."
Digital Photography, including Birds of Virginia:
http://www.birdsofvirginia.com
