ML646419379

Detalles de la observación

**Very rare but increasing in all seasons and with an emerging expected window of occurrence between midsummer and the end of fall. Appears to be a second Brooklyn record. First picked up in binoculars at 3:29 as it arced eastward way out from the end of the pier and immediately recognized it as a sulid, suspecting it was this species. Transfer to scope confirmed: a lightly built, long-winged sulid, with a distinctly un-gannet-like GISS and faster wingbeats; long tail giving the bird a more elegant and balanced appearance with none of the great bulk or awkward liopleurodon-like front heaviness of northern gannet and making the wings appear closer to midship. Long bill held aloft, never showing the heavy droop characteristic of northern gannet. As it moved eastward towards Breezy Point, I got a look at the underside, showing a dark upper breast and a dusky pale lower stomach - a fairly neat divide but not as clean a line as on adults, indicating a subadult bird. Flying on long gangly wings, doing some shearwater-like arcs but never really dropping down to the surface, with bouts of bowed-wing, pelican-like soaring. Lost a minute or two later while digiscoping it, but seen again at 3:47 or so flying roughly south along the Breezy Point jetty being chased and dived on by an adult great black-backed gull, which the booby appeared a bit smaller and significantly narrower than. Distant photos taken from a hard-fought few seconds of digiscope video; written up and submitted to NYSARC.