BLUE FOOTED BOOBY on Seaton Beach

... is what was said in a phone call to me this morning. I wasn't sure if it was a hoax or a misidentification so I popped down to have a look in case it was indeed something of interest. The bird was alert but sat down on the pebbles, between two of the sheds. I'm not sure what's wrong with it; I kept my distance and walked all the way around the bird but couldn't see any obvious injury. Unfortunately some of the people observing it had dogs with them (most of them not on leads) and the bird wasn't too amused by this. Each time a dog approached, the bird stretched it's neck in disapproval. I didn't need to get close either; I was surprised just how big the bird was (not seen one landed before) so it was easy to get nice shots from 30 - 40 ft away. Here's some pics of the 'Booby':

P.s. GANNET. Ahhh if only it were a BF Booby...