© Wild ARCA brown booby, a tropical bird rarely seen in the cool climate of the Pacific Northwest, is recovering after it was found injured at Ogden Point. Jan. 31, 2018.
A tropical bird rarely seen in the cool climate of the Pacific Northwest is recovering after it was found injured on Vancouver Island.
A female brown booby about two years old was found with a puncture wound in its chest at Ogden Point on Monday.
The tropical birds are typically found in California, Mexico and Hawaii and it's rare for them to be spotted here, according to BC SPCA's Wild Animal Rehabilitation centre in Metchosin, which is now caring for the injured animal.
The bird was about 30 per cent underweight and was given fluids to stabilize it. It now remains in care at Wild ARC.
It's the first time the organization has cared for a brown booby.
Staff say they're not sure when the bird will be well enough for them to be able to release it back into the wild.
The brown booby is known for making massive dives for fish from up to 15 metres.
Wild ARC says in the past year, it has cared for 2,207 injured and orphaned birds.
Comment: The last 12 months has seen a notable number of these extralimital records of tropical seabirds in North America, presumably for the most part storm driven, here's a list of such reports:
Bird from the tropics, the brown booby, seen for first time in New HampshireWrong place, wrong time: Tropical seabird turns up at Point Pelee, OntarioRare sighting of frigatebird in Wausau, Wisconsin, a likely hurricane refugeeRare red-billed tropicbird turns up in Gulf Breeze, FloridaWrong place, wrong time: Nazca Booby from the Galapagos Islands turns up at Dana Point, CaliforinaAlthough displacement caused by extremely inclement weather seems the most plausible explanation in most cases, the following extract from a 2015 report of a
brown booby turning up near Cape Race in Canada, indicates that at least some of these seabirds had been getting lost due to other factors:
Most historic records of brown boobies north of the Florida Keys are hurricane waifs. However, about three years ago brown boobies started doing odd things. They started appearing in the northeast United States without an obvious explanation. These were not storm driven birds, but individuals flying north of their own free will. One even reached the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. And the first for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador landed on a tour boat just off St. Anthony.
Comment: The last 12 months has seen a notable number of these extralimital records of tropical seabirds in North America, presumably for the most part storm driven, here's a list of such reports: Bird from the tropics, the brown booby, seen for first time in New Hampshire
Wrong place, wrong time: Tropical seabird turns up at Point Pelee, Ontario
Rare sighting of frigatebird in Wausau, Wisconsin, a likely hurricane refugee
Rare red-billed tropicbird turns up in Gulf Breeze, Florida
Wrong place, wrong time: Nazca Booby from the Galapagos Islands turns up at Dana Point, Califorina
Although displacement caused by extremely inclement weather seems the most plausible explanation in most cases, the following extract from a 2015 report of a brown booby turning up near Cape Race in Canada, indicates that at least some of these seabirds had been getting lost due to other factors: