Hello birders,

Here are some more details on my sighting this afternoon.

At approximately 4:45 this afternoon, as the whale watching boat I was on
entered Bellingham Bay from the south, I spotted a large dark bird from a
great distance that I initially thought was a loon. It was dark above with
a dark head, and light below and it was noticiably larger than the
surrounding terns. I then noticed that the Caspian Terns around it were
mobbing it, which I thought was puzzling, because I had never seen a loon
being mobbed before. The bird would also bank and glide for short
distances, which I also have never seen a loon do before.

My thoughts then turned to the bird being a raptor, possibly an Osprey, but
that was quickly dispelled as I continued to watch it fly in a manner of
which was unlike a raptor, which included fanning its long tail.

After about a minute of viewing, I began to believe it was a booby, (which I
have only seen videos and pictures of), based on its size, and overall
shape. And it was after I had begun to believe it was a booby, that it did
a spectacular plunge-dive into the water. The dive was at a steep angle,
and much more impressive than the dives the Caspian Terns do. It dove with
much greater velocity and with its wings tucked completely in producing a
pencil-like appearance. This basically sinched the genus ID for me, and
then I began the struggle for field marks, as the bird remained quite a
distance from the boat.

>From what I could tell, the bird was all dark above, with a dark hood, which
was cleanly cut off on the lower breast from the whitish underparts. Its
flight appeared slower and less acrobatic than the surrounding terns. The
tail-fanning was one of the most obvious field marks that I noted while
watching the bird.

It continued to be mobbed by the terns the entire time I viewed it, which
was for about 10 minutes. Yet it continuously plunge-dove in such a
spectacular way that I am still awe-struck by it.

The best species ID I can come up with for this bird is Brown Booby, and
although I have no doubts that it was a sulid, I am definately open to
scrutinization (I did not note a pale bill, so possibly juvenile
blue-footed?).


Good Migrations,

Houston Flores
Bellingham, Wa
houstonflores AT hotmail.com