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 the bird was thin, weak and experiencing respiratory discomfort likely due to a fungal infection.
 
Massachusetts Audubon science coordinator 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 kilometers) south of Nantucket in 2015.
 
The seabirds are more common in the Gulf of Mexico.