Photo Study Of A Brown Booby And Other Birds, Jarvis Sound, Cape May, NJ, August 30th, 2011

    Ed Norman and I went today to try and photograph an adult female Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) that has been hanging around Buoy 475 in
    Jarvis Sound at Cape May since the middle of August. A very knowledgable and most hospitable Captain Bob Lubberman took us out on the
    Osprey and showed us one of the most incredibly beautiful salt marshes in New Jersey. There were still lots of sea and shore birds there despite
    the recent visit of Hurricane Irene but the bird of the day for us was the beautiful vagrant up from the warm waters of the Caribbean, the Brown
    Booby. Here are some of the photos:

Brown Booby Poses On Buoy 475

 The Brown Booby Flies By

Brown Booby Flies Towards Us
 
Portrait Of The Brown Booby
 

    The Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. It is a widespread bird of tropical waters, and ranges as far
    north as the Gulf of California, and rarely to both coasts of the United States. The adult Brown Booby reaches 30 inches in length and has a 57
    inch wingspan. Its head and upper body are dark brown, with the remainder being a contrasting white. The juvenile is grayish-brown with a
    dark head, wings and tail. Their beaks are quite sharp and contain many jagged edges. Sexes can be distinguished by bill color, pinkish-yellow in
    females, and greenish-yellow in males. This species breeds on islands and coasts in the tropical areas of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They
    frequent their breeding grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This bird nests in large colonies, laying two chalky blue eggs on the
    ground in a mound of broken shells and vegetation. It winters at sea over a much wider area. Brown Booby pairs may remain together over several
    seasons. They perform very elaborate greeting rituals. Brown Boobies are spectacular divers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They mainly
    eat small fish or squid which gather in groups near the surface and may even catch leaping fish while skimming the surface. Although they are
    powerful and agile fliers, they are particularly clumsy in takeoffs and landings; they use strong winds and high perches to assist their takeoffs.
    (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; Sibley Guide To Birds; U.S.V.I. Division of Fish and Wildlife)

    Species Seen Today:

    To see a larger image of any of the birds below, please click on either the thumbnail or the caption...thanks!

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                                              Captain Bob Lubberman's birding boat, the Osprey                                                                   

                            © Howard B. Eskin 2011   Please email your comments to hbeskin@voicenet.com    Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index