What color is a Blue-footed Booby?
Its wings are long, pointed, and brown in color. The neck and head of the blue-footed booby are light brown with white streaks, while the belly and underside exhibit pure white plumage.
How do blue footed boobies get their color?
The causal reason is that carotenoid pigments, which the boobies get through their diet, are concentrated in their feet, making them appear blue in colour. The concentration of these pigments determines the strength of the colour of the feet, with higher concentrations making the feet a more intense colour of blue.
What do blue footed boobies look like?
Adults have brilliantly blue feet and grayish brown streaking on pale head and neck. Young birds have brown feet and darker brown streaking on the head, neck, and chest. Blue-footed Boobies spend much of the day fishing, often in flocks.
Why do blue footed boobys have pale feet?
1. The blueness of their feet comes from their diet of fresh fish. It’s actually a substance called carotenoid; these are antioxidants that improve the immune system. If a blue-footed booby has pale feet, it likely means that they are unhealthy.
What’s the speed of a blue footed boobie?
These birds hit the water around 60 mph (97 km/h) and can go to depths of 82 ft (25 m) below the water surface. The prey is usually eaten while the bird is still under water. Males and females fish differently which could contribute to the reasons that blue foots, unlike other boobies raise more than one young.
What kind of bird has a blue head and blue feet?
Known as Sula nebouxii, these are large comical birds, with a spiky head, grey or dark greenish blue bill and distinctive blue feet. As with other booby species, here again the female is larger than the male while the male have longer tails. Interestingly, the blue feet of the males attract the females during breeding season.
Which is better a male or female with blue feet?
Foot blueness of both genders is key in their mating rituals. A male or female with bright blue feet is much more likely to find a mate than a male or female with pale feet. 2. Male and female are nearly identical.
Why do blue footed boobys have blue feet?
The most distinctive characteristic of the blue-footed booby is its large blue feet, which play an important role in courtship. Females are thought to select males with brighter feet, as they are an indicator of his overall condition and thus the quality of his genes. Females tend to be larger than males, and have darker blue feet.
How big does a red footed boobie get?
Red-footed boobies ( Sula sula) are the smallest Sula species, with males between 800 and 1160 grams and females between 850 and 1210 grams (Sibley, 2014 and Nelson, 1978).
Why are blue footed boobys in the Galapagos Islands declining?
However, research suggests that blue-footed booby populations in the Galapagos have suffered large declines in recent years, with an estimated population of just 6,400 birds in 2012. It is thought that this decline is related to a decline in clupeid fish, especially sardines, which the boobies seem to need in large quantities in order to breed.
What kind of fish do blue footed boobys eat?
At dawn, they take to the sky in search of schools of small fish such as anchovies and sardines, often foraging in large groups of up to 200 birds. Once the prey has been spotted, the booby folds back its wings, giving it a more streamlined shape, and plunges into the water.
