See below.

The photos show a young bird, already with the pink bill and dark tip. So not a real young juvenile. It is brown-bodied as is typical at this age. Just as a quick guide Red-footed Booby starts out with a blackish bill with blue-gray base as a juvenile. This shifts to a pinkish bill with dark tip in the "immature" stages, I assume at least a year if not more? Then the adults have a blue-gray bill, and pinkish at the bill base/facial skin.

I gather this bird flew off in SF waters. To be looked for on pelagics, or spots where cormorants/pelicans hang out.

Alvaro



Alvaro Jaramillo

<mailto:alvaro@...>alvaro@...

www.alvarosadventures.com



From: northbaybirds@groups.io <northbaybirds@groups.io> On Behalf Of Mark Dettling
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2021 10:16 AM
To: northbaybirds@groups.io
Subject: [northbaybirds] Second-hand Red-footed Booby report



Hello Birders,

Point Blue was contacted by someone interested in getting help identifying a bird from a photo. The photo was sent to me last night and it was a close-up shot of a Red-footed Booby sitting on the railing of a boat. The person gave the location as "The location is approximately 1 mile west of the main ship channel buoys 1 and 2. Lat: 37*46.0’N, Long: 122*39.4’W". They have been out on the boat for a couple days (not coming back into port) and have had the bird land on the boat a few times. They said it was hanging out with the gulls.



Not really chaseable, but I thought I'd pass along this cool sighting. Maybe someone could pass this along to the SF list serve since it's probably in SF waters.



--

Mark Dettling

Bolinas