Yesterday a white-tailed tropicbird (phaethon lepturus) landed in the port gunnel. It appeared to be shivering (or the wind was blowing its feathers, couldn’t tell). I named it “Pete” after Pete’s Café, our destination in the Azores, and also after Pete Reeser, Bob’s favorite Brooklyn Dodger and his password for everything. Today we googled “what to do when a white-tailed tropicbird lands on your boat as you are crossing the Atlantic” and, because Google knows everything, an answer came up. The bird is either hurt or exhausted, put it in a sheltered spot and let it rest. Do NOT feed it; it’s in shock and if it eats, it will die. (Just in time, we were about to force feed it everything in our snack cabinet!) We provided a container, as recommended, offering a quiet and protected environment for R and R. (See photo of cozy box with towels.) Pete promptly jumped out of it. (Pretty frisky for an exhausted bird). He seems to like being tucked away in the corner of the cockpit. He’s off and on napping, and off and on pooping (I will take both as good signs.) So now we wait. Standby for more updates. Hopefully we will have good news for you, but you can never tell with these rescues at sea.
Here's Pete when he first came aboard... sad little guy!
Looking a little better
No wonder Pete was exhausted, look at the ocean!
Pete in the afternoon
Pete in the evening
Pete by his box that he rejected
