Tropical booby bird spotted in Dana Point Harbor – Orange County Register

Melissa Timko-Miller had seen one of these tropical birds before, years ago while volunteering in the Galapagos Islands.

But she didn’t expect to see the beautiful bird perched up on a rock jetty here in Orange County, hanging around in the Dana Point Harbor on a recent day.

The bird she snapped a photo of appears to be a masked booby, possibly the same one that has been hanging out off the Orange County coast since last September, according to wildlife photographer Mark Girardeau, founder of Orange County Outdoors. 

“I first saw it on Seal Rock off Crescent Bay, then all the birders came down to see it because it was a very rare sighting here,” he said. “Since then, if it is the same bird, it was hanging out on (the) Newport Harbor jetty for a few months and now it’s been hanging out off (the) Dana Point jetty.”

Bird enthusiasts have been buzzing about the sightings of the masked booby, he said, which seems to be enjoying its Southern California vacation.

Timko-Miller, an elementary teacher, said it was interesting this bird stayed on the jetty, even as seagulls, pelicans and cormorants dispersed as she approached.

The name booby   may come from the Spanish word bobo, meaning stupid or daft, since these birds, having no natural predators on their nesting islands, show no fear of humans, according to the American Bird Conservancy.

“I was really surprised when I noticed it was a booby, as I didn’t think they lived around here,” Timko-Miller wrote in an email about the encounter. “When I left to head back to the beach, it still stayed there … seeing that rare bird was a nice reward for walking to the end of the jetty.”