Brown booby
| Brown Booby | |
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| Brown Booby on Oahu, Hawaii | |
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| Species: | S. leucogaster
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| Binomial name | |
| Sula leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783)
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The Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. The adult brown booby reaches about 76 centimetres (30 in) in length. Its head and upper body are covered in dark brown, with the remainder being a contrasting white. The juvenile form is gray-brown with darkening on the head, wings and tail. While these birds are typically silent, bird watchers have reported occasional sounds similar to grunting or quacking.
Their heads and backs are black, and their bellies are white. Their beaks are quite sharp and contain many jagged edges. They have short wings and long, tapered tails.
This species breeds on islands and coasts in the pantropical areas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They frequent the breeding grounds of the islands in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This bird nests in large colonies, laying two chalky blue eggs on the ground in a mound of broken shells and vegetation. It winters at sea over a wider area.
Brown Booby pairs may remain together over several seasons. They perform elaborate greeting rituals.
Brown Boobies are spectacular divers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat small fish or squid which gather in groups near the surface and may catch leaping fish while skimming the surface. Although they are powerful and agile fliers, they are particularly clumsy in takeoffs and landings; they use strong winds and high perches to assist their takeoffs.
Subspecies
The 4 subspecies recognised are:
- Sula leucogaster brewsteri Goss 1888
- Sula leucogaster etesiaca Thayer & Bangs 1905
- Sula leucogaster leucogaster (Boddaert) 1783
- Sula leucogaster plotus (Forster,JR) 1844
Gallery
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Adult brown Booby, French Frigate Shoals -
Returning to nest at sunset, Coral Sea Islands, Australia -
A stick nest is built on the ground -
Video of Boobies on Lady Elliot Island, Australia
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In flight in the Gulfo Dulce, Costa Rica -
A flock of boobies at Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
References
- Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Harrison, Peter (1996). Seabirds of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01551-1.
- Bull, John; Farrand, John, Jr (1984). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-41405-5.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
- Brown Booby videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Boobies
- Birds of Africa
- Birds of Southeast Asia
- Birds of India
- Fauna of Trinidad and Tobago
- Birds of Puerto Rico
- Birds of Australia
- Birds of Kenya
- Birds of Western Australia
- Birds of South Africa
- Birds of Palau
- Fauna of Ascension Island
- Animals described in 1783
- Birds of the Cook Islands