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Galapagos Pictures - Blue-footed boobies - Sula nebouxii

Other thumbnail pages: 1 - Boobies and other birds | 2 - Marine iguanas | 3 - Tortoises | 4 - Seals | 5 - Landscapes

Bird watching in the Galapagos unlike elsewhere in the world poses few problems as there are only about 60 resident species of which 13 are finches and many of the others are distinctive and easily recognised such as the Blue Footed Booby.

These really have to be one of the most remarkable birds in the world with their almost unreal large sky-blue feet and a mating dance which entails lifting the feet in a very solemn manner, one at a time showing them off to the prospective mate. Their name comes from the Spanish "bobo" meaning clown or fool, the connection is easy to make when seeing them in their mating display.

Like many other birds though, once away from the ground and in their natural element, flying through the air, they become far more elegant and certainly not clown-like. They feed on fish which they usually catch inshore often in impressively large flocks. They catch fish by a power-dive starting as high as 15m and sometimes accelerated downwards by flapping the wings before sweeping the wings backwards on entry into the water in a deadly dart-shape.

Breeding takes place whenever food is abundant rather than being seasonal, up to three eggs are laid with the smaller younger chicks serving as food for the largest if the parentally provided food supply starts to run short.

Blue Footed Boobies are found breeding on many islands around and south of the equator, though the Galapagos Islands have about 75% of the world's population.

Picture courtesy NOAA

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Galapagos Cruises

Books
Galápagos: Natural History
Galápagos Wildlife: Visitor’s
The Beak of the Finch: Story of Evolution in Our Time
Voyage of the Beagle
A Guide to the Birds of the Galápagos Islands


Galapagos pictures to buy

 


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