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Australian Wildlife

  Red-footed Booby (Sula sula)





Red-footed Booby | Sula sula photo
Red-footed booby, Darwin Bay, Genovesa, Galapagos Islands

Image by James Preston - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Red-footed Booby | Sula sula photo
A brown morph of the Red-footed Booby. Tern Island, Hawaii.

Image by Duncan, Wellington NZ - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Red-footed Booby | Sula sula photo
Red-footed Booby nesting, with male Great Frigatebird and chick behind.

Image by Duncan, Wellington NZ - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







RED-FOOTED BOOBY FACTS

Description
The Red-footed Booby blue bill with pink base, and pink or red feet. There are different colour variations. The light ones are white with black wing flight feathers, and yellowish tinge on head. The dark ones have light grey head and body and darker grey wings and back.. There is also an intermediate form with white body and with brown or grey back and wings. The immatures are all mottled brown with black bills and grey feet.

Other Names
Red-footed Gannet

Size
66 - 79cm. Wingspan 1.4m

Habitat
Oceans. Roosts on coral cays

Food
dives for fish at sea

Breeding
Nest is platform of sticks in bush or tree. Lays one greenish white egg.

Range
Tropical Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Seen on Great Barrier Reef. Breeds on Raine Island, Ashmore Island, various coral cays in south west Coral Sea.

distribution map showing range of Sula sula in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Procellariiformes
Family:Sulidae
Genus:Sula
Species:sula
Common Name:Red-footed Booby

Relatives in same Genus
  Masked Booby (S. dactylatra)
  Brown Booby (S. leucogaster)