MITCHELL – People from across Indiana and surrounding states are visiting Spring Mill State Park to get a once-in-a-lifetime look at a juvenile brown booby. More than 750 visitors arrived at the park this weekend to get a glimpse of the seabird with webbed feet.
This is only the second brown booby ever to have been seen in Indiana. The first was in May 2019 on a private lake in Zionsville and was seen by only two people before it left a day later.
A juvenile brown booby was discovered in the lake at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell on Monday by the park’s interpretive naturalist Wade LaHue. No one knows how long it will remain.
The discovery was confirmed by DNR assistant state ornithologist Amy Kearns who said that brown boobies are not normally seen in the US, much less in Indiana.
On Friday morning, state assistant ornithologist Amy Kearns was at the park watching both the bird and the visitors who could easily see it from the nature center, along the shore of the lake, or on the floating dock.
Officals ask if you see this special bird, give it plenty of space to rest and feed, so it can stay healthy and eventually find its way back to its home in the ocean.
