Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 07:35:07 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Booby hysteria MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MDOspreyers, I was going to let this whole booby thing pass without comment, but Paul's recent post prompts me to ask: Why in the _WORLD_ was this "Blue-footed Booby" not a young gannet. The observer, by his own admission is not experienced, but furthermore at least two elements of the description strike me as inconsistent with Blue-footed Booby. First, as I recall, gannets have blue eyes, Blue-footed Boobies have whitish eyes. Second, I don't expect "dull blue" feet to match Blue-footed at all, but I do think it could match a young gannet in its second or third year (SY/TY). Streaked head could apply to either. Furthermore, Blue-footed Booby is unknown in the Atlantic Basin to my knowledge, short of a report from the Texas coast (I think). There certainly has never been one anywhere near DE (there is a Georgia rpeort from some time ago, but I think that is not to be believed either). I'd love to find out that this bird was a Blue-footed Booby, but I have to say I am truly amazed with how the birding community has embraced this outlandish report. That said, I encourage all MDOspreyers to head to Ocean City this weekend because Maryland's first Brown Booby is long overdue. Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Irvine, CA (formerly Annapolis, MD) > In addition to the BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY reported from Delaware this past > week, which I presume to be of ill health given it's behavior, there's > now a report of a sick juv. BROWN BOOBY that was picked up on the > beach in North Carolina. As they say, 2 data points is enough for a > trend for us non-statisticians, so perhaps there's something afoot and > worth keeping an eye out. > > Good birding, > Paul Pisano > cheep@erols.com > Arlington, VA > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================