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booby ID = Abbott's Booby Papasula abbotti

To: "Michael L. P. Retter" <>, <>
Subject: booby ID = Abbott's Booby Papasula abbotti
From: "Mike Carter" <>
Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 12:20:45 +1000

I have absolutely no doubt that it was an Abbott's Booby Papasula abbotti. It is a very distinctive species, and as you say, prehistoric in appearance. I have seen them many times, most recently just two months ago on Australia's Indian Ocean Christmas Island, the only breeding site in the world. Your's would be the first record for the Pacific Ocean and the northern hemisphere. Previously they have occurred as vagrants just west of the Timor Sea so yours would also be the furthest east by some 20-24 degrees.

Apart from another of the opposite sex, they need tall trees for nesting. Any suitable habitat there?

Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza  VIC 3930
Tel  (03) 9787 7136





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