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    Monday, May 13, 2024

    Tropical bird blown ashore on Cape Cod

    A pair of masked boobies photographed on Howland Island. (USFWS/via Wikimedia Commons)

    EASTHAM, Mass. — A tropical bird never before seen in Massachusetts has been rescued from a Cape Cod beach.

    Wild Care, a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Eastham, says the masked booby found Tuesday at a Wellfleet beach was likely blown off course by Hurricane Jose.

    Wild Care Executive Director Stephanie Ellis tells the Cape Cod Times the bird was thin, weak and experiencing respiratory discomfort likely due to a fungal infection.

    Massachusetts Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary science coordinator Mark Faherty says a masked booby has never before been reported on Massachusetts soil. He says a charter captain reported seeing one about 100 miles south of Nantucket in 2015.

    The seabirds are more common in the Gulf of Mexico.

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