Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 12:19:21 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Booby hysteria MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Excellent points Marshall. I also recalled that the Blue-foot is a eastern Pacific Ocean endemic. For what its worth I just checked my "Checklist of the Birds of Texas" - there was a Blue-footed Booby photographed on South Padre Island on 5 October 1976. Your memory served you well. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Rd Chestertown, MD 21620-3645 410-778-9568 rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast." - E. B. White ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marshall Iliff" To: Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 7:35 AM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Booby hysteria > 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) ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================