Submission No 541: Abbott’s Booby Sula abbotti; Exmouth Plateau, WA 12 September 2007 (Unpublished). Submitted by: Mark Stanley.

Verdict: Accepted

This submission relates to the sighting of two Abbott’s Boobies Sula abbotti seen at sea over the Exmouth Plateau (19º09’S, 113º10’E) off WA 12 September 2007. The sighting included one probable adult male and one possible sub-adult.

The description and photographic evidence confirmed the identification and members voted unanimously in favour of acceptance. Observations of this species feeding at sea are an extremely rare event anywhere in the world and this is the first documented observation within Australian continental waters.

Abbott’s Boobies are generally confined to Christmas Island and the surrounding seas. This record is the third to be accepted by BARC for ‘continental’ Australia. The first was an exhausted bird found sitting in a tree at Eco Beach, WA on the 16th December 1999 and the second a female found dead floating in the inner lagoon at Ashmore Reef 26 January 2003. (BARC Cases 297 & 432).

References & Bibliography

• Enticott, J. & Tipling, D. (1997), Photographic Handbook of the Seabirds of the World, New Holland, London.
• Harrison, P. (1987), Seabirds of the World: A Photographic Guide, Christopher Helm, London.
• Johnstone, R.E. & Storr, G.M. (1998), Handbook of Western Australian Birds. Vol. 1 – Non-passerines, Western Australian Museum, Perth (p. 346).
• Marchant, S. & Higgins, P.J. (Eds) (1990), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Vol. 1, Ratites to Ducks, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Tony Palliser

Chairman Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)