Far off the coast of Cape Reinga, a group of round-the-world sailors got a rare addition to their crew – a red footed booby.
The bird, part of the gannet family, is a rare sight in New Zealand with only a few confirmed sightings.
One afternoon in May, 270km from the cape, the bird landed onboard the boat Jubilate Mare, which had set off towards New Caledonia after spending some time in New Zealand.
BRUNO BARBOSA/Supplied
The red-footed booby is incredibly rare in New Zealand.
Crew member Bruno Barbosa, who is documenting his worldwide trip, was shocked when the bird flew onto the boat so far from shore.
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The birds are only known to forage over water up to 150km from land – and the nearest breeding colony is 780km away in the Kermadec Islands.
BRUNO BARBOSA/Supplied
The crew of Jubilate Mare is on a round-the-world trip.
Barbosa nicknamed the booby Gertrudonilda the Gannet, before shortening it to GG and finally settling on Gigi.
She spent her time on the boat sitting around, sleeping, scratching herself, moving between spots and sometimes flying around to search for fish, Barbosa said.
The crew, including captain Pete Townsend and his partner Barbara Bush, were without internet to find out any more on Gigi, so their theory was the bird had come from Australia.
It wasn’t until they got service and they found out what kind of bird Gigi was that they began wondering how she had made it so far from land.
BRUNO BARBOSA/Supplied
The bird was given the name Gigi during her first night onboard.
She hung out with the crew for five days and four nights before flying off on the morning of Barbosa’s birthday (May 15), 142km from New Caledonia.
“Even if the red footed booby doesn’t migrate, somehow she knew we were heading north and New Caledonia could be a new home.”
Seabird expert Chris Gaskin said the bird was likely taking a long flight over the open ocean before it decided to use the sailboat to its advantage.
Boats disturb the water and send up flying fish for the boobys to eat, said Gaskin, who is a project coordinator for the Northern Seabird Trust.
Red footed boobys are common around the Pacific, Gaskin said, and they’re likely to turn up with increasing frequency in New Zealand as the oceans warm.
