First U.S. Atlantic Record of Nazca Booby <i>Sula granti</i>, with implications for vagrancy by Pacific seabirds into the Gulf of Mexico

An adult Nazca Booby Sula granti was photographed in the western Gulf of Mexico on 03 August 2024 during a survey of marine birds and mammals over waters east of South Padre Island, Texas, USA (26.384ºN, 096.176ºW). This is the first report of S. granti in US waters of the Gulf of Mexico; previous eBird reports indicate occasional presence in Caribbean waters off Costa Rica (2018) and Colombia (2020). As many as 20% of all marine and waterbird species occurring in the Gulf of Mexico have core ranges in the Pacific Ocean or its continental margins. Dispersal by Pacific birds over the narrow isthmuses of Panama or Tehuantepec (Mexico) into these waters may occur more often than realized. Such vagrancy may arise from unrecognized migratory movement, tropical storm displacement, ship-following through the Panama Canal, and/or merely long-distance wandering instigated by a variety of factors.