Blue-footed Booby

Sula nebouxii Order: PELECANIFORMES Family: Booby and Gannets (Sulidae)

Codes: Common Name: BFBO Scientific Name: SULNEB ITIS Taxonomic No.: 174702

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Overview

Blue-footed Booby: Large, gull-like seabird with white body, brown wings and brown-streaked head and back. The blue-gray bill is long and stout. Legs and feet are powder blue. Plunge dives for fish from 50 feet above shallow water. Alternates rapid, deep wing beats with sailing glides.

Range and Habitat

Blue-footed Booby: Breeds from Gulf of California south to Peru. In summer, a few stray to Salton Sea in southeastern California or, infrequently, to southern California coast. Pelagic, only comes ashore to breed.

Topo Map: Gull-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

Generally silent

Interesting Facts

The Blue-footed Booby derives its name from the Spanish word bobo which means stupid or silly. Its lack of fear and clumsiness on land made this bird easy prey for man.

They have no brooding patch (bare skin on the underbelly) to keep their eggs warm. They use their webbed feet, which have an increased blood supply and for the first month after hatching, the chicks stand on their parent’s feet to keep warm.

Unlike other boobies, the Blue-footed Booby can dive into the water from a position of swimming on the surface.

A group of boobies are collectively known as a "congress", "hatch", and "trap" of boobies.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Blue-footed Booby

● Song: Generally silent

● Foraging & Feeding: Blue-footed Booby: Feeds on fish. Plunge dives from up to 50 feet above water; capable of catching flying fish in the air. The male and female are adapted for catching fish of different sizes. The larger female dives further offshore in deeper waters, while the male makes shallow dives closer to land.

● Breeding & nesting: Blue-footed Booby: Two to three chalky, pale blue-green eggs are laid on flat ground. Both parents incubate eggs for 41 days.

● Similar species: Blue-footed Booby: Masked Booby has yellow feet, white upperparts and head, and yellow bill.

Flight Pattern

Strong, moderately rapid wing beats interrupted by sailing glide.

Blue-footed Booby Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Blue-footed Booby: Breeds from Gulf of California south to Peru. In summer, a few stray to Salton Sea in southeastern California or, infrequently, to southern California coast. Pelagic, only comes ashore to breed.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationCasual to rare

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight44.8 Ounces

Gull-like Body

Pelagic

The pelagic is a type of bird whose habitat is on the open ocean rather than in a coastal region or on inland bodies of water (lakes, rivers). An example of a pelagic bird is the blacklegged kittiwake.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America