Rarely seen from shore, this appears to be the same bird hanging around Monterey Bay and sometimes landing on whale watching boats since at least 13 September when first reported by Katlyn Taylor and Jeremy Hathaway. As is typical of boobies it is unafraid of people. Fortunately Gary Kittelson roped off a corner of the wharf where the booby likes to sit, to keep tourists from getting too close. I judge this one to be a second cycle, dark-tailed, white morph. Note it is molting primaries. Red-footed is the smallest and most agile of the Boobies but is reported to have the largest eyes of any booby, possibly an adaptation for nocturnal feeding. Like other boobies, their nostrils are fused shut to allow deep dives for fish. Previous specimen records from California are of the small dark tailed race "S. s. websteri" of the Eastern tropical pacific.
