Birds of North Carolina - their Distribution and Abundance

Scientific Name:	Common Name:		Family (Alpha):

SULIDAE Members:

General Comments

The Brown Booby was until a few years ago a rarer bird off our coast than the Masked Booby, even though both species breed in good numbers in the West Indies. For whatever reason, the Brown Booby is not as prone to wander northward to the mid-Atlantic coast; and it was an embarrassingly late entry onto the North Carolina bird list, not having been recorded until 1979. As of 2025, there are now well over 65 state records, with an average now of about two records a year in our waters. As with that species, a handful of reports have come from shore; quite shocking was one that was not only found well inland, but lingered at that site for many months. An additional handful of records have now come from the Piedmont, whereas the Masked Booby is not yet known from inland sites. A few reports of Brown Boobies possibly refer to misidentified immature Northern Gannets.

Breeding Status

Nonbreeder

NC BRC List

Definitive

State Status

none

U.S. Status

Definitive

State Rank

Global Rank

Coastal Plain

Nonbreeding visitor, mainly offshore in the Gulf Stream, but there are quite a few records from shore, including birds perched on land or on markers/buoys. Very rare to now rare (and slightly increasing) from late May to late Aug; casual to mid-Apr and to mid-Sep. Just four conclusive records from Oct to early Apr -- a sub-adult seen (but not photographed) at Beaufort Inlet (Carteret), 18 Dec 2016 (Chat 82:57); an adult female photographed on the beach just north of Oregon Inlet on 18 Mar 2019; a sub-adult on the beach at Cape Hatteras Point (Dare) on 29 Nov 2021; and an adult photographed in flight 53 miles SSE of the southern tip of Ocracoke Island (Hyde) on 30 Dec 2021. There are a few more records in late April and the first half of May. One photographed on the roof of a house in Buxton (Dare) on 16 Apr 2025 was quite out of habitat, as well as early. A few previous winter season reports of boobies (Brown and/or Masked) have not been accepted due to confusion with the abundant-in-winter Northern Gannet. Peak counts: 2-3, an adult and one or two juveniles, off Hatteras, 28 Aug 2020; 2 on several occasions, but most of the other records refer to single individuals only. Coastal records are for Dare, Hyde, Carteret, Onslow, New Hanover, and Brunswick. No far inland records.

Piedmont

Casual, with six records. An adult female was seen and photographed on many dates at Lookout Shoals Lake (Catawba and Iredell) from 28 May - 5 Dec 2016* (Chat 80:108-109) (Chat 80:142). A second adult, determined to be a different individual by photo examination, was photographed at Lake Tillery (Stanly) on 20 Aug 2016. The latter report has not yet been reviewed by the NC BRC. A juvenile was photographed at Lake Norman (Mecklenburg/Iredell) on 27-28 Jun 2020, pending review by the NC BRC. Stunning was one photographed "sitting atop a chicken coop" in Stanly, 28 Sep 2020 (Chat 85:30)! A juvenile was photographed on three dates from 12 Aug - 6 Oct 2021 on the Pee Dee River just south of Morrow Mountain SP (Montgomery/Stanly). An adult was photographed along the Cape Fear River (Chatham) from 27-29 Sep 2025 (Chat 90:20).

Mountains

No records.

Finding Tips

*
As with other rare pelagic species, you will have to take dozens of trips out of Oregon Inlet or Hatteras Inlet to see one, unless you are very lucky. On rare occasions a Brown Booby is seen along the coastline, such as on a jetty or perched on a channel marker/buoy. A number of people have seen their first and only state Brown Booby inland, such as the one that lingered at Lookout Shoals Lake for over six months!