A once-in-a-lifetime bird sighting was caught on camera near Lake Martin.
Jimmy Lanier , founder of the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association , said he was walking a trail on March 7 when he stopped at the region’s newest fire tower. “I saw this strange-looking, erratic sort of flight of a bird that went around the tower and then landed up about, oh, I’d say 80 feet,” Lanier said.
Worried he might scare it off, Lanier stayed back as another couple, who arrived soon after, climbed the tower to get a closer look and take photos. After researching the pictures and making a few calls, Lanier determined the bird was a red-footed booby. Red-footed boobies are most commonly found in tropical waters and are known to nest in Hawai‘i. The species has also been documented as far away as the Galápagos Islands.Greg D. Jackson, M.D., with the Alabama Ornithological Society, said the bird is “seen rarely in the Gulf of Mexico, mostly the western portion off Texas,” though there are also “several records in the far eastern Gulf near the west coast of Florida.” Jackson said there have been no accepted reports of a red-footed booby in Alabama, either on land or offshore. For the sighting to become an official state record, the Alabama Bird Records Committee will need to review the report. Based on the documentation and images, acceptance appears likely.The fire tower sits about a mile north of Martin Dam on Overlook Drive—and it bears Lanier’s name. He helped build the tower years ago. Now, it’s the location tied to Alabama’s first accepted report of a red-footed booby. “It was just a great experience, really, to have something like a bird that has never been seen in Alabama,” Lanier said. “To see one and be the first person to ever see one—it seems sort of trivial, but then when you think about it, there are millions of people who love to keep up with birds. It turns out to be a pretty neat thing to have happened.” Trail manager and bird enthusiast Julia Thomas also saw the bird in person before it flew away—less than a day after it landed. She says it’s a moment she won’t forget. “I make these hiking trails as beautiful as I can,” Thomas said. “My thing is, I call myself restoring Eden. I try to make the world look beautiful like God intended it to look, and that’s what I do on hiking trails and paths and everything. I’m always looking for things that God has done that are amazing, and I guess he showed me the most amazing bird I’ll ever see.”
Alabama News Sighting Red-Footed Booby Bird Jimmy Lanier Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association Wsfa Wfsa
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