Tropical bird ‘not normally seen’ in US found hunting in Indiana, officials say. See it
A naturalist at a state park in Indiana was surprised to encounter a young bird typically only seen in tropical regions or far out at sea, wildlife officials said.
Interpretive naturalist Wade LaHue spotted a juvenile brown booby – a tropical seabird – diving into a lake at Spring Mill State Park on June 3, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said in a June 6 Facebook post.
“Brown boobys are not normally seen in the US, much less Indiana,” according to state ornithologist Amy Kearns.
Their usual habitats include tropical oceans and are often seen “very far from land, over warm waters in tropics and subtropics,” according to the Audubon.
Officials said the bird was “probably wandering out of its normal range.”
Officials said the bird has been staying close to the Lakeview Activity Center.
“Visitors coming to see this special bird should give it plenty of space to rest and feed,” the department said.
A brown booby was spotted in Indiana only once before, in 2019.
