Re: IB pier Red-footed Booby – RIP

Re: IB pier Red-footed Booby – RIP
By – 1:41 pm
Dear friends, The specimen of the juvenile Red-footed Booby is now retrieved. Thanks to lifeguard Trevor Spence for his help in getting into the attic of the Tin Fish restaurant and from there on to the steep roof of the building. I held the ladder. He was able to draw the booby out of an awkward position with a hook on a long pole and knock it off so it fell down to the next level of the roof where I was standing. Success! This will be our 6th specimen of the Red-footed Booby for San Diego County, after previous ones in 2006, 2015 (2), 2018, and 2019. I will look for an obvious cause of death like a swallowed fishhook (as killed the 2006 specimen) when I do the dissection. Thanks to Chris McCreedy for alerting us to the specimen in time before decomposition set in, and to lifeguard Trevor Spence for his kind cooperation, creativity, and braving that steep roof in making the retrieval. Good birding, Philip UnittSan Diego