Long thought to be either extinct or quite possibly imaginary, it was first described by Sir Reginald Smith-Smythe-Smith, O.B.E. in 1893 in a seedy bar in Quito, Ecuador, as he regaled indifferent listeners with tales of his travels around the Horn, etc. Apparently the bar was so filled with hookah smoke that nearly everyone passed out in the course of the evening, and doubt was cast upon the bird’s existence.
Decades later, however, a team of scientists with high-powered binoculars claimed to have spotted the peculiar variant high on a rocky ledge on Wolf Island. Unfortunately dissension arose amongst the team, all of them academic glory hounds and keen birders, and much was made of a tiny fleck of purple paint found on the lens of the binoculars.
This new photo has touched off a firestorm of controversy, naturally, and the Royal Booby Society, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has offered a prize (to be known as “The Booby Prize”) of $10,000,000 (which they do not presently have) to the first sportsman who delivers a properly stuffed and mounted specimen of this magnificent bird.
*This was posted on Facebook by the Galapagos Conservancy. I totally fell for it. I am so gullible. How can I be so gullible when I know I am gullible? You'd think sef-awareness about a defect would help. But no, I went for it hook, line, and sinker. I had a tinge of doubt when I read about the seedy bar and the fleck of purple paint. I guess I read what I hope to read; not always what is actually printed. And I was dumbfounded when they asked for a stuffed specimen because why would they kill a rare bird such as the purple booby? In my defense, the sky blue feet of the boobies I saw there are unreal and unnatural in color. And I knew they had red footed boobies. That made purple footed boobies less of a stretch for me I guess.
I love April Fool's Day.
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