Identification Photos: Blue Footed Booby, Sula nebouxii: The Blue Footed Booby is a large seagoing bird that is a member of the Sulidae Family. The name is derived from the Spanish word “bobo” which means asinine, foolish, idiotic or stupid. This name originated from their habit of landing on ships at sea, where they were easily approached and killed by sailors. The Blue Footed Booby is the smallest of the three common boobies, with the Masked Booby being the largest and the Red Footed Booby falling in the middle. All have significant color variations, with torpedo-like bodies and sharply pointed beaks.

The Blue Footed Booby has a disproportionately larger tail than the other boobies. It has bright blue webbed feet and blue-grey facial skin. The head is a pale cinnamon-brown with dense white streaks. On the back of the neck there is a white patch. The Blue Footed Booby has long, brown, pointed wings that can reach a span of 64 inches. The lower breast and parts below and the central tail feathers are white. The Blue Footed Booby has a blue, serrated bill. It flys by flapping and gliding, flapping and gliding. It is a non-swimmers and sits on the water to rest.

The Blue Footed Booby is a pelagic bird species, spending the majority of its time at sea. Its collects fish or squid primarily at night by plunge-diving beak first from 30 to 50 feet and disappearing for several seconds. Blue Footed Boobies fish close to shore. Males can easily be distinguished from females by voice, with males making an asthmatic whistling sound and females making a croaking sound. Females have a dark ring around the pupils, making them look bigger than those of the males. The Blue Footed Booby only comes to shore to breed, year-round, and make nests on bare ground. It lays two to three eggs and uses the feet to provide warmth, with hatching occurring in 30 days. The young bird remains on top of its mother’s feet for the initial 30 days.

The Blue Footed Booby is present in all tropical arid islands off the western coasts of America, Mexico, and South America. The global population is estimated to be 40,000 pairs, with half the population in residence in the Galapagos Islands, where it is legally protected. Egg collectors pose minor treats to populations elsewhere. Description courtesy John Snow.

Blue Footed Booby, Sula nebouxii: From Zack Thomas, a Blue Footed Booby, taken at Bahia San Nicolas,south of Mulege, Baja California Sur, Mexico, in July 1999, on a blue-and-silver hoochie (their favorite) and 40-pound test. According to Zack, John Cunnison said gleefully moments before this photo was taken, "This is the first booby I've touched in months!" Seriously, said Zack, in the San Nicolas area, for some reason, boobies can become such a nuisance attacking trolled lures as to make fishing nearly impossible.