Brown Booby

Status One record. It was found more or less stranded on a rocky ledge known as the Salvages, at Blanche, Shelburne County on 28 July 1941 by Albert Dixon Summers. The bird was very much alive but so tame it permitted being handled. Efforts to feed it were unsuccessful, suggesting a state of near-starvation. The bird remained in the immediate vicinity of the ledge for several days, after which it was not reported again. Mr. Simmons obtained an excellent close-up photograph that authenticates his species identification.

Remarks This gannet-like bird occurs widely in tropical waters. Both sexes have a chocolate-brown head, neck and upperparts, and white underparts. The breeding colonies nearest to Nova Scotia are in the Bahamas, from which this stray may have come.