[Tweeters] RF Booby age and morph from Peter Harrison - and see him in person in Sept

[Steve Hampton via Tweeters]

All,

I reached out to Peter Harrison, the author of the new *Seabirds *book, who
lives nearby. Regarding the Red-footed Booby, upon seeing the pics, Peter
related, "Plumages and soft parts coloration are the key to ageing and
identification. Your bird is a sub-adult, second year, perhaps entering its
third year, and one of the so-called “intermediate morphs.” Your images cut
off the legs and feet of the bird, but I suspect that they were a dirty,
dull pink. You will obviously note that Red-footed Boobies are
pan-tropical. More than a million pairs are scattered between 30 degrees
north and 30 degrees south. Brown morphs are unknown from the Caribbean
area. The largest population is at the Galapagos Islands where I was just a
month ago! I suspect that the origin of the Port Townsend bird is from one
of the many colonies in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean."

Peter will be at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival on Sat, Sept 7. He
will be giving a lecture on seabirds of the world at the Discovery Room of
the Maritime Center at 9:30am. He will share his lifetime of
adventures as a seabirder
and the writing and illustration of his new seabirds field guide. Copies
will be available for purchase and signing.

good birding,



-- 
Steve Hampton
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
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