A seabird known for its very distinctive bright blue feet is the blue-footed booby.
The blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) is a marine bird native to the eastern Pacific Ocean’s subtropical and tropical regions.
It is one of six species known as boobies, of the genus Sula.
The feet of these birds turn blue as they grow older, this is known as a secondary sex trait used to attract male birds in courtship behavior.
The name of this bird, ‘booby,’ comes from the Spanish word ‘bobo,’ meaning foolish, and refers to this species’ clumsiness on land, along with their willingness to approach people.
In a somewhat elaborated mating ritual, the males show off their eye-popping feet while strutting against a female to elicit interest.
The female is slightly larger than the male and, with a wingspan of up to 1.5 m (5 ft), can measure up to 90 cm (35 in) long.
These boobies live off Central and South America’s West Coasts.
The population of the Galápagos Islands comprises about half of all Blue-footed Boobies breeding pairs.
Its diet mainly consists of fish, which it obtains by diving and sometimes swimming underwater in search of its prey.
The blue-footed booby usually lays one to three eggs at a time. The species practices asynchronous hatching, in contrast to many other species whereby incubation begins when the last egg is laid and all chicks hatch together. This results in a growth inequality and size disparity between siblings, leading to facultative siblicide in times of food scarcity.
Concerns of a decline in the booby population of the Galápagos Islands prompted a research project in its cause. The project, completed in April 2014, confirmed the population decline. The blue-footed booby population appears to be having trouble breeding, thus is slowly declining. The decline is feared to be long-term, but annual data collection is needed for a firm conclusion that this is not a normal fluctuation.
