Four R's Visit
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Our House Guests It all began at four in the morning when, on my two till
six watch, I saw a bird that kept circling Beez Neez. Not one of the big white
birds with the luminous undersides that we have seen before, but a dull colour
against the dark sky. I thought no more of it and went to bed. Up for my ten
o’clock start, Bear was just telling me about his shift and as we were peering
at the chart plotter my little chap landed. The clock was up on our display and
I noted it was eight minutes past ten. Clearly our visitor had red feet and
immediately we named him Robin.
For the next hour Robin solidly preened himself.
“How do I
look” – not quite there yet.
A more thorough
going over
Each feather sorted
one by one.
Exhausted our friend tucked into
a deep sleep.
The
Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) is a large seabird of
the family, Sulidae.
As suggested by the name, adults always have red feet, but the colour of the
plumage
varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but can be clumsy in takeoffs and
landings. They are found widely in the tropics and breed colonially in
coastal regions, especially islands.
Now and again the front sail flapped and
woke Robin, time for just a bit more preening. During
one such period, he looked up and followed the flight path of another of his
breed, clearly this was now HIS pad. Soon the odd sail flap didn’t bother him
anymore and slept even more soundly. What was incredibly funny to watch was his
balance, he clung tightly with his feet, rocked at the hips and somehow managed
never to fall off or wake himself up. We took a short video as a
keepsake.
Description: The Red-footed Booby is the smallest of all boobies at about twenty eight inches in length, a wingspan of up to thirty nine inches. It has red legs and its bill and throat pouch are coloured pink and blue. This species has several morphs. In the white morph the plumage is mostly white (the head often tinged yellowish) and the flight feathers are black. The black-tailed white morph is similar, but with a black tail, and can easily be confused with the Nazca and Masked Boobies. The brown morph is overall brown. The white-tailed brown morph is similar, but has a white belly, rump and tail. The white-headed and white-tailed brown morph has a mostly white body, tail and head, with brown wings and back. The morphs commonly breed together, but in most regions one or two morphs predominate – one example is on the Galápagos Islands, most belong to the brown morph, though the white morph also occurs. The sexes are similar, and juveniles are brownish with darker wings and pale pinkish legs, while chicks are covered in dense white down.
Eyes shut in the complete joy of it.
Breeding: This species breeds on islands in most tropical oceans. When not breeding they spend most of their time at sea, and is therefore rarely seen away from breeding colonies. They nest in large colonies, laying one chalky blue egg in a stick nest, which is incubated by both adults for forty four to forty six days. The nest is usually placed in a tree or bush; rarely, it may nest on the ground. The chick is about three months old when they first fly, and five months before they make extensive flights. Red-footed Booby pairs may remain together over several seasons. They perform elaborate greeting rituals, including harsh squawks and the male's display of his blue throat, also including short dances. We so hope to see this for ourselves. Diet: Red-footed Boobies are spectacular divers, plunging into the ocean at
high speeds to catch prey. They mainly eat small fish or squid which gather in groups near the surface.
I began my two a.m. shift with great
excitement from Bear. We have another one, this time on the solar panel.
I took these pictures, clearly the first without the
flash was no good, the second with but at a distance as I didn’t want to
frighten him before you saw him. Meet Roland.
Wow Bear, well done.
At twenty past two I was
at first chuffed to meet Ruben, but by the look on
Roland’s face, perhaps he was not so thrilled. Bear
had not long gone to bed so I rushed down and showed him this picture.
Roland was clearly
exhausted after long days at sea, so he went straight to
sleep and was soon swaying gently in Beez soft
movement. Ruben tried the preening thing, but
every time the wind generator spun round he got frightened, (he was OK with the
fans going round but not the whole thing turning on its axis). He moved too
close to Roland, startling him awake - a fight broke out, beak clacking and a
loud arr-arr-arr noise. They sounded like an old fashioned car hooter,
the ones with the rubber ball attached to the little silver funnel..... Well
anyway this went on and on and eventually fear made Ruben shove Roland off the
end amongst much mayhem, wing flapping and noise. Roland being the first to
roost took this badly, very badly indeed. Being a gentleman and not a wuss, he
took the wind generator side (he had had time to get used to it and was not
afraid of it). Landing in Rubens original spot, I thought was a good idea and
that would be the end of it. No. Ruben kept all on making trouble. I was trying
to listen to a good book. As always I had my earphone over my left ear, my right
for listening to the radio. The birds were on my right, First Mate now getting
cross, see the warning signs boys – I don’t think any breed of bird would
survive me going ape with a winch handle.
Now as it happened, I was
wearing my Joe Boxer leggings. Designed as men’s
pyjama bottoms, I have changed their use and am quite happy to go shopping in
them and stand duty too. The thing is though they glow in the dark, the eye,
lip, tongue surrounds and all the wording. I did wear them once in bed on a cold
night in America and made myself jump when I saw just how luminous they were, so
much so, I woke the captain to share the experience. Great at three in the morning, pitch black until the wife whisked
back the sheet and I saw a large, scary flash of brilliant
yellowy-white. Steady with the word large. I
could have said extra large. STEADY.
Have you ever seen an IPod swung with such menace
Bear has
Scarper Bear, Scarper.
Oh, and to complete the leggings story,
my favourites and best are my Marvel Action Hero. That’s
only because you haven’t worn them to bed, wear them out more and that good
looking man on the overhead cable in St Thomas said “way to go, sister”. Paint Pepe’s face a
deadly shade of puce. Growl........... He was gorgeous though and was called
Samson, if you’d like to know. No, he was young, gifted,
black and had a particularly naught twinkle in his eyes.
Ooooooooooooooooo
Anyway. This would be a first first time
in my life that I have ever stood next to the solar panel and shouted up close
and personal - ”Enough, stop the noise, not only do we have three solar panels
for you to sleep in four-star isolation but as this is my watch, it is therefore
my boat so you will adhere to this command.” I had no idea I had bellowed quite
so night sisterly, as Bear was heard giggling.
Well sheepish silence and looks of humble apology came over the faces of Roland and
Ruben.
Sleep and silence in
seconds.
I looked up ahead to see if any of the rearward kerfuffle had
upset Robin, he had in fact been discreetly joined
by Russell and all seemed quite
orderly.
Daybreak on the naughty pair. Ruben silently flew off at
five forty five.
Roland and Ruben had caused quite a mess, thank heavens
Bear fitted me a power salt hose at the back, which gave a good drubbing to
their numerous calling cards, AND all over my newly
polished steel. On the other hand Robin and Russell had adopted the position
well established in the old days for which the saying “heads” was founded,
leaving just a tiny mishap on the front deck. They are welcome back any
time.
Bear came on at six and
assumed all our friends had left. Actually I had just been having a talk with
Roland, (who after Ruben had left to go fishing), sat
quietly on the right davit to apologise profusely for the events of the night
before. I thanked him for his manners, said he was welcome back, but, could it
not be with Ruben.
I said my assumed farewell to Robin through our open bathroom window as I went
to bed at six. Bear told me later that he had been in no rush to leave, departed
at just after seven.
ALL IN ALL A RARE, UNIQUE AND COMICAL EVENT IN THE LIFE OF
BEEZ NEEZ
AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE
MISSED |