Red-footed booby

 

Red-footed booby (Sula sula)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

This seabird is the smallest of at least six species of boobies. It is about two and a half feet long and has a wingspan of five feet. Unlike the blue-footed booby which makes deep dives into water to catch fish, it often catches flying fish in the air, as well as making shallow dives. All boobies immediately swallow the fish they catch, unlike other fishing birds which may carry the fish in their beaks.

It has a similar range to the blue-footed booby and is commonly seen in Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands. Other species of boobies nest on the ground, but red-footed boobies live in colonies and nest in trees, where they lay a single blue egg.

Both adults incubate the egg for just over six weeks. The chicks learn to fly around three months of age, but it will be another eight weeks before they are able to attempt long flights.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The red-footed booby comes in several plumages, white, brown, or mixed, but all sport bright red feet and have blue bills. Some males also display blue throat patches when trying to attract mates.

They will not nest on islands where the Galapagos hawk is found, even if conditions are otherwise favourable. If the hawks have been eradicated from an island, red-footed boobies have been observed moving in to colonise it.

Humans continue to hunt and eat both adults and chicks, even though it is illegal. The birds bite the hands of humans attempting to take them from their nests. Two or three thousand birds are killed in most years.

Coconut crabs hunt red-footed boobies, using their strong claws to break the birds’ wings or trap them by their legs.