A strange bird has been spotted on Furman’s lake. Some believe it to be a brown booby blown off its migration pattern by a storm. What do you think?
The Furman University Libraries have a subscription to Birds of North America Online. BNA Online provides comprehensive life histories for each of the 716+ species of birds breeding in the United States. This online resource contains image and video galleries showing plumages, behaviors, habitats, nests and eggs, and features recordings of the songs and calls of their species, recordings selected from the extensive collection of Cornell’s Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds.
Looks like the Carolina Bird Club has identified this bird as a Brown Booby:
https://www.carolinabirdclub.org/gallery/Rogers/brbo.html
As did another birder, who brought his son to campus to see the Brown Booby:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45044874
Check out the 4th picture on the National Audubon Society’s web page about the Brown Booby (note the feather and beak colors and head shape):
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/brown-booby
I think we’re lucky to have seen this bird, but why is he so far from his usual haunts?
The bird in the picture appears to be an Anhinga. They are quite common in the South Carolina Lowcountry, but this is the first time I’ve seen one in the upstate.