Missouri welcomes numerous flying visitors throughout the year, but the state recently made history after a seabird was spotted in the Ozarks. Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staff have confirmed a Brown Booby has shown up along the Current River in Ripley County.

The bird was first spotted by Debbie Prance-Orosz this past Saturday while she and her family were out enjoying the river. Not knowing what the bird was, she snapped a photo and posted it to her Facebook page.

“We first got word of it after it was posted to Facebook this past weekend wondering what it was,” said MDC Forester and avid birder Steve Paes. “We didn’t know where it was, other than somewhere on the Current River. After asking around, I got a tip on its location. On Monday, I set out on the river with Cindy Bridges with the Missouri Birding Society and we eventually found it perched on a dead tree.”

~ Find out more in today’s Journal ~