Subject: [Tweeters] Edmonds Brown Booby (no sightings)
Date: Aug 22 09:14:23 2015
From: John Puschock - g_g_allin at hotmail.com


Hi all,

Based on the photos taken yesterday (21 Aug 2015) of the Brown Booby at Edmonds, it appears to be a subadult female. It has some brown on the belly and underwings where an adult would be pure white. For example, an adult would have a sharp transition from the brown chest to the white belly, which this bird lacks. A male would have a bluish throat (though I may be wrong if this feature only appears once it reaches full adulthood). So just in case you're wondering if this is the same bird that escaped from the Woodland Park Zoo a few years ago, I would say no. That bird was a full adult female with immaculate white underparts.

I also noticed that it appears to be injured on the leading edge of the left wing around the wrist, though it doesn't seem to hinder it's flying ability at the present time. The injury can be best seen on George Pagos' photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpagos/20149227523/

John Puschock
Matthews Beach, Seattle
g_g_allin at hotmail.com