Bird name:

Masked Booby

Sula dactylatra

Order

PELECANIFORMES

Family

Booby and Gannets (Sulidae)

Code 4

MABO

Code 6

SULDAC

ITIS

174699

Breeding Location:

Islands, sandy or rocky

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial

Breeding Population:

Yes but uncommon

Egg Color:

White

Number of Eggs:

1 - 2

Incubation Days:

38 - 49

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Lined with slight rim of pebbles.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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General

Masked Booby: Large seabird with white body, black trailing edge on wings, and pointed black tail. Head has black mask and long, pointed, yellow bill. Legs and feet are yellow-gray. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is gray-brown above, white below, and has dark gray legs.

Range and Habitat

Masked Booby: Breeds in Bahamas and West Indies, and on other islands in tropical Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. Rare visitor to coasts of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, and in Gulf Stream to the Carolinas. Pelagic, only comes ashore to breed.

Breeding and Nesting

Masked Booby: One or two chalky white eggs are laid in a shallow ground depression with a slight rim of pebbles. Incubation ranges from 38 to 49 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Masked Booby: Eats primarily fish and squid; forages by plunge diving, sometimes from as high as 40 feet and to depths of 6 to 10 feet underwater.

Vocalization

Masked Booby: On breeding grounds, makes a high-pitched whistle; usually silent at sea.

Similar Species

Masked Booby: Nazca Booby has an orange bill. Red-footed Booby is smaller, has white tail, white inner secondaries, pink facial skin, and red legs.

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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