A large, torpedo-shaped seabird that hunts by plunge-diving from heights of 30 metres — remarkable for its sky-blue or bright red feet used in elaborate courtship displays, and for colonial nesting on remote islands.
Six species
The boobies form a genus (Sula) of six species, all large oceanic plunge-divers related to gannets. The most famous:
- Blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) — the Galápagos icon; unmistakable sky-blue feet
- Red-footed booby (Sula sula) — tropical Pacific and Atlantic; smallest booby; bright red feet
- Masked booby (Sula dactylatra) — largest species; white with black mask and wingtips
- Peruvian booby (Sula variegata) — the most abundant; key species in the Humboldt Current ecosystem
The feet
The blue-footed booby’s feet are genuinely bright turquoise-blue due to carotenoid pigments obtained from fresh fish. The colour reflects foraging success — a male who has eaten well has more intensely blue feet. Females prefer males with brighter feet, and experimentally painting feet brown causes females to lose interest. The high-stepping courtship display that shows off the feet is one of the most photographed animal behaviours in the world.
Plunge diving
Boobies hunt by flying 10–30 m above the sea, spotting fish, then folding their wings and diving in a steep, controlled plunge at up to 97 km/h. Air sacs beneath the skin of the face and chest cushion the impact. Their eyes can focus in both air and water.
The name
“Booby” comes from the Spanish bobo (fool, dunce) — a reference to their tameness around sailors, who could pick them up by hand. Their fearlessness around humans led to widespread persecution; many island populations were extirpated for food.
Find more birds by letter
Booby starts with B and ends with Y. Browse other birds along the same letter.
Birds that contain a letter from "Booby":