Another photo of the Coos Bay Brown Booby

Brown Booby. Photo October 30, 2009 by Russ Namitz. Click photo for larger view.

To add to yesterday's post of the Brown Booby in Coos Bay, Oregon, Russ Namitz sent the photo above. The sun came out today, but the bird is still distant, out in the channel.

Today's photo shows fairly clearly that this is an adult female, by the dark spot in front of the eye on the pale bill and dull yellow feet. An adult male would show darker bluish facial skin, bright yellow feet, and perhaps even darker brown upperpart plumage. It is assumed this is the race that breeds in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). The males of this population have frosty heads unlike the all-dark heads of male birds in the Gulf of Mexico. However, the plumage of females is similar between the two populations.