June Pigeon had never seen anything like it before.
She works at Ogden Point in Victoria and about noon on Monday noticed a 鈥渨eird looking bird鈥� on the pier.
鈥淗e was just sort of standing there and he had his head underneath his wings,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was just shaking and shivering. You could get right up to him and he鈥檇 just look at you, but he wasn鈥檛 moving too far.鈥�
It was terrible weather that day, so Pigeon took a couple of pictures and called the B.C. SPCA to ask for advice. She was told to put the bird in a box with holes in it and set the box in a dark place.
The bird put up no resistance. 鈥淗e was obviously so cold,鈥� Pigeon said.
She set the box in a building where it was warmer and, later that day, one of her colleagues delivered the bird to the SPCA.
Meanwhile, Pigeon posted the bird鈥檚 picture on Facebook in hopes that somebody could identify it.
She didn鈥檛 wait long.
鈥淚 got tons and tons of replies,鈥� she said.
Victoria鈥檚 avid birders quickly identified the stranded traveller as a brown booby, a strong-flying, long-winged seabird more commonly found in tropical seas.
Ann Nightingale of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory said it鈥檚 rare to see the birds this far north. The first reported sighting was in 2009, she said.
鈥淚鈥檝e only seen one once before and that was in San Diego,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e spent many hours and quite a few dollars chasing this species in the waters off Victoria.鈥�
Nightingale said she would have headed to Ogden Point at first light Tuesday in hopes of catching a glimpse of the bird if it had been in better shape.
As it was, the booby spent the night at the Central Victoria Veterinary Hospital and was transferred the next morning to the SPCA鈥檚 Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre in Metchosin.
Marguerite Sans, senior wildlife rehabilitator at Wild ARC, said the adult bird was 鈥渂orderline emaciated鈥� when it arrived with inflamed feet and a small puncture wound on its chest.
The bird was so ill, it was too risky to resume its regular diet of fish and squid. Instead, the centre has been feeding the bird a specialized, easily digestible diet.
Sans said the bird is likely a female although it鈥檚 unclear to which of the four subspecies of brown booby she belongs.
鈥淏ased on the fact that there鈥檚 no white on the head, there鈥檚 a little bit of sooty colour in front of the eyes, but no blue, we鈥檙e leaning toward female,鈥� she said.
Sans said it鈥檚 too soon to say whether the bird will make a full recovery.
鈥淕iven how thin she is and the blood results, we鈥檙e pretty guarded, because with emaciated patients we can鈥檛 tell how well they鈥檒l do until several days later.鈥�
Sans praised Pigeon for doing 鈥渆verything right鈥� by rescuing the bird. Nightingale said it鈥檚 unlikely the bird would have survived a day or two longer in the wild.
鈥淎ny time that a bird is able to be caught by humans without a lot of gear it鈥檚 not a good sign,鈥� she said.
鈥淪o its prognosis without assistance was very poor and its prognosis with assistance is somewhat better. But it will be kudos to the folks at Wild ARC if they鈥檙e able to pull it through.鈥�
Wild ARC reports that in the past year alone it helped thousands of injured and orphaned wild animals, including 2,207 birds, 907 mammals, 129 reptiles and three amphibians.
