

Profile

In flight
Seabirds
Blue-footed Booby
Sula nebouxii
- uncommon
- 32 km/h
- Least Concern
Those blue feet aren't just for show. They're for stomping out a delivery dance.
- Population
- ~90,000 mature individuals (declining)
- Habitat
- Strictly marine outside breeding season, favoring cool nutrient-rich upwelling zones; breeds on cliffs, islets, and rocky/sandy coastal areas with sparse vegetation
- Fun fact
- Male blue-footed boobies perform an elaborate foot-lifting, sky-pointing courtship dance, and the vividness of their carotenoid-pigmented blue feet serves as an honest signal of health and fertility to prospective mates.
- Range
- Eastern Pacific coast of the Americas from the Gulf of California and northwestern Mexico south through Central America to northern Peru, including the Galápagos Islands (roughly half of all breeding pairs nest there); vagrants reach California and northern Chile
- Diet
- Small schooling fish such as sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and flying fish, plus squid, caught by plunge-diving from the air
- Size
- 0.81 m
- Wingspan
- 1.5 m
- Lifespan
- 18 years











