LBI 6/28--Brown Booby

Scoping the distant pilings off 9th Street in Surf City through the heat haze, I could persuade myself that one of those roosting birds was not a cormorant but was instead the Brown Booby reported yesterday. Even with the eyepiece turned all the way up to 60X it was a hard sell. It was only when I saw a long yellow bill that I said, "Yeah, that's it," and figured I'd have to be satisfied with a truly crummy look at this county lifer. 

A couple was watching the kid's sailing regatta that was taking place in front of me (and off and on blocking my view of the distant pilings) and the guy asked me if I ever saw any albatrosses out there in Barnegat Bay. "At least," I said to myself, "he's not asking about eagles." I explained the extreme unlikelihood of finding any albatrosses in a bay in New Jersey, but did tell them there was a rare bird way out there. They took a mild interest in the fact and then the conversation moved on to Peregrine Falcons, of which there are a few in the vicinity. Charismatic birds are the bridge between birders and non-birders.

Had I not been in one of my rare "Birding Ambassador" moods, I would have shouldered the scope after seeing the yellow bill of the booby and gone home, but as we were talking I noticed a bird flying just our north that was not a cormorant. Even they could see it naked eye. It flew in front of us and dove, clumsily, took off, dove again. At one point it was chased by a Herring Gull looking to steal anything it might find. 

Now I had a decent look at the booby, one I could take home without a grumble. The couple left and apologized for distracting me when of course they hadn't but had made me stay still long enough to actually see the bird in action instead of counting a blob in the eyepiece.

Shari always tells me it pays to be nice.