Boobies and Gannets

Three species of boobies are relatively widespread in tropical waters. The brown booby (Sula leucogaster) Blue-footed boobies in the Galápagos Islands. Photograph by Anthony Wolff. PhototakeNYC. Reproduced by permission. is the most common species, breeding in all of the tropical oceans. This species has dark-brown upper parts and breast, and a white belly. Male birds have a dark-blue face, while that of females is yellow. Immature birds are more uniformly brown.

The blue-faced or masked booby ( Sula dactylatra) is the largest species. This species breeds in the tropics of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The blue-faced booby has a mostly white body, but the flight feathers are all black, resulting in a black stripe running the length of the back of the wings. The "mask" is an area of black feathers just behind the beak.

The red-footed booby (Sula sula) is a species of the tropical Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. This species is named after its bright-red feet and legs. The red-footed booby nests in shrubs and trees.

Other, less widespread species are the Peruvian booby (Sula variegata) of offshore islands and coastal headlands of Peru, the blue-footed booby (S. nebouxii) of western Mexican and Central and South American waters, and Abbott's booby (S. abbotti), which only occurs in the vicinities of Assumption and Christmas Islands in the Indian Ocean. Peruvian boobies can nest in huge colonies, which can contain as many as one million pairs of birds.

Boobies do not breed in North America, but several species are regular visitors to coastal waters during their non-breeding season. The blue-faced booby occurs most frequently in the vicinity of the Dry Tortugas off extreme southern Florida, and also in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and Baha, California, as well as farther south of all of those places. The brown booby and blue-footed booby are also occasional visitors to the extreme southern United States.