Blue-footed Booby
: Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Pelecaniformes :: Sulidae : Sula : nebouxii
Binomial name
Sula nebouxii Milne-Edwards, 1882

The Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii) is a bird in the Sulidae family which comprises ten species of long-winged seabirds. This seabird is a very tame bird and lacks the fear instinct that other birds have. It is no larger than the size of a goose (about 3 to 4 pounds). The females are larger than the males.

The name Booby comes from the Spanish word bobo, which means “Stupid fellow.” This is because the Blue-footed Booby is known to be clumsy on the land.

The natural breeding habitat of the Blue-footed Booby is arid, tropical and subtropical islands off the Pacific coast of South America from Peru to Mexico including, most famously, the Galapagos.

The Blue-footed Booby's diet consists entirely of fish. The birds dive into the ocean and swim underwater in pursuit of their prey. The Blue-footed Booby hunts in flocks. When the lead Booby sees a fish present in the water, it will signal the rest of the group and they will all dive together to catch the fish. Surprisingly, the Booby does not like to eat the fish with the hunting group. They prefer to eat by their lonesome. They eat in the early morning and in the late afternoon.

The courtship of the Booby consists of the male flaunting his blue feet to impress the female. The female Booby will lay two or three eggs. Both male and female would take turns incubating the egg, while the other keeps a watch on its surroundings. Since the Booby does not have a brooding patch, a patch of bare skin, it uses its feet to keep the eggs warm. The chicks cannot control their body temperature up until about one month old, so they use the adult's feet for warmth. They do this because the Booby prefers to have a lot of space around its nest. The chicks must be fed continually, so the adult males will constantly hunt for fish. The chicks feed off the regurgitated fish in the adult’s mouth. If the parent Booby doesn’t have enough food for all of the chicks, he will only feed the biggest chick, insuring that one will survive.