Tropical bird likely blown off course by Hurricane Jose

EASTHAM, Mass. – A tropical bird never before seen in Massachusetts has been rescued from a Cape Cod beach after it was likely blown off course by Hurricane Jose.

Wild Care, a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Eastham, says the masked booby was found Tuesday at a Wellfleet beach.

Wild Care Executive Director Stephanie Ellis tells the Cape Cod Times (http://bit.ly/2xAINDN ) the bird was thin, weak and experiencing respiratory discomfort likely due to a fungal infection.

Massachusetts Audubon science co-ordinator Mark Faherty says a masked booby has never before been reported on the state’s soil. He says a charter captain reported seeing one about 100 miles (161 kilometres) south of Nantucket in 2015.

The seabirds are more common in the Gulf of Mexico.