Blue-footed Booby
Sula nebouxii
A seabird that dives like an arrow, and dances to show off its bright blue feet.
The blue-footed booby is a seabird of Mexico's Pacific coast, the Gulf of California and the Galápagos. It hunts by folding its wings and plunging into the sea from high in the air, and it's famous for its feet: the bluer they are, the healthier the bird — and the more a mate will want it.
On the conservation status
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In some places, like the Galápagos, numbers have fallen in years when the sardines they depend on grew scarce.
- Length
- About 80 cm (31 in)
- Wingspan
- About 1.5 m (5 ft)
- Dives from
- 10–30 m (33–100 ft) up
- Dives down to
- About 25 m (80 ft)
- Diet
- Sardines, anchovies, mackerel, flying fish
- Bigger
- Females — noticeably
The good stuff.
The bluer, the better
The blue comes from pigments in the fish it eats. A well-fed, healthy booby has bright blue feet; a hungry or sick one's feet fade. The colour is an honest health report, and mates read it.
The dance
To court a female, a male struts around lifting his bright feet high, one after the other. Then he points his bill, tail and wingtips at the sky and whistles.
Whistles and honks
You can tell males from females by ear: males make a thin, drawn-out whistle, females a loud, goose-like honk. Pairs often call back and forth to each other.
A living arrow
Boobies hunt by folding back their wings and plunging head-first into the sea from as high as 30 m, hitting the water at about 97 km/h and going down as deep as 25 m.
Fishing as a team
Boobies often hunt in groups. When a flock finds a school of fish, they dive in one after another.
Why booby?
Sailors named them from the Spanish bobo, meaning silly or clumsy, because they waddle awkwardly on land and aren't afraid of people.
Wait, really?
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About half of all blue-footed boobies breed in the Galápagos Islands.
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They don't build real nests. Eggs are laid on bare ground, and the parents keep them warm with their feet.
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Females look as if they have bigger pupils than males, because of a dark ring around each one.
What it sounds like
Males give a thin, drawn-out whistle; females and young birds honk and grunt like geese.
We haven't found a recording we're allowed to share yet, so for now this one is a description.
Where you might see one
Isla Isabel and Islas Marietas off Mexico's Pacific coast, islands in the Gulf of California, and the Galápagos Islands.
The trouble
- Food shortages when sardine numbers crash
- Warming seas and El Niño years
- Disturbance at nesting colonies
- Plastic and fishing line
One real thing
If you visit a booby colony, stay on the paths and keep your distance. They're so unafraid of people that it's easy to get too close to a nest without noticing.
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