Close Up With Brown Booby

3rd March 2009

My friend Eugene alerted me last nite by posting picture of Brown Booby at Flickr and it was found by the local on the sea near Kota Kinabalu struggling its life to survive from drowning ! So this morning, I went there with friends to see the condition of the bird.

Slow moving Booby while Denis and Karim took pictures of it

Tag no. 351


Brown Booby digiscoped with Nikon Fieldscope ED82, SRB-Griturn Mk II adapter and Fujifilm F31D

One of its hind toe on the left is gone and lack another skin on its webbed right foot. On its left leg, huge size tag by unknown resource. Could anyone help to find the origin of this bird where it had been tagged ?

This Booby considered the commonest species in Greater Sundas Island compared with the other three species namely the Red-footed, Masked and Abbott's Bobby and the nearest breeding colonies are on Tubbataha Island in the middle of Sulu Sea, 150km southeast of Puerto Princesa City Palawan, Philippine and been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Probably this bird flew from there ?

More pictures of this bird can be seen at Birds Of Borneo database in Flickr. Click here.

Happy birding and thanks to Ben, Karim, Denis and Eugene and staffs at Wetland Centre for the company this morning :)

Update :

• This bird was tagged at Tubbataha Island, Palawan few years ago according from Terry, the officer from the island.