Bird name:

Blue-footed Booby

Sula nebouxii

Order

PELECANIFORMES

Family

Booby and Gannets (Sulidae)

Code 4

BFBO

Code 6

SULNEB

ITIS

174702

Breeding Location:

Islands, sandy or rocky

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Casual to rare

Egg Color:

Pale blue green

Number of Eggs:

2 - 3

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

No material added to nest.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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General

Blue-footed Booby: Large, gull-like seabird with white body, brown wings and brown-streaked head and back. Bill is long and stout. Legs and feet are powder blue. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has more brown on head, shoulders, and back.

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.

Breeding and Nesting

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

Foraging and 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.

Vocalization

Blue-footed Booby: Silent at sea; on breeding grounds male gives a long whistle.

Similar Species

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

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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.

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