When I saw the report of a Brown Booby being reported in La Crosse Wisconsin it sounded impossible! A bird that lives south of the US in the oceans of Mexico, east and west was a bird I wanted on my WI life list. It was too late in the day to make the run up there as it would be dark but put together a trip for early morning. Jym and Nathanal went along for the ride with me. Leaving at 3 am from Waukesha and arriving at 5:30 am worked out well, a few minutes before light. After about 20 minutes the bird was found opposite the eagle watch parking lot on the other side of the Black River perched in a tree. After about 15 minutes the bird left the perch and flew around some over the open water, eventually landing in the water. The next couple of hours the bird repeated the flying and landing on the water giving excellent views and pretty far for photos every 10 minutes but never came close up but remained towards the other side of the river or body of water opening. What a great find, the original finder of the exciting bird was Tim Collins, and it was actually found 2 days earlier, this being the 3rd day. A big thank you to Tim for getting the word out on this bird. It was a beautiful morning with temps around 60 degrees and no wind and some clouds. I hope it hangs around for a while for others to enjoy. Life bird #370 for my Wisconsin life list.
At first decent light, the Brown Booby was found perched in a tree on the other side of the river…
Brown Booby during one of its flights over the river at a distance…
In flight…
Just floating around, the bird seemed to be comfortable…
In flight, the bird put on a great show!
In flight…
