Blue footed Booby bird Web feet closeup, patte palme bleue, Ecuador South America
The blue-footed booby, Sula nebouxii (Milne-Edwards, 1882), is famous for two reasons: its link to Charles Darwin's expedition to the Galapagos Islands, and its name. The appellation does in fact have a somewhat silly meaning: The word "booby" comes from the Spanish "bobo," meaning "stupid fellow," and was probably inspired by the bird's clumsiness on land and apparently unwarranted bravery. (It is extremely vulnerable to human visitors because it does not appear to fear them.) A tropical seabird with famous bright blue webbed feet, a brown and white-streaked head, blue-grey facial skin, and a solid white body, it may approach meters in wingspan. The bird itself is a little under a meter long (about the size of a goose), with a long curved neck. They can live as long as 17 years. Though best-known as a Galapagos inhabitant, they can be found on several other arid islands off the western coasts of tropical America, Mexico, and northern South America, from the coast of California to southern Peru. A skilled hunter in the air and on water despite its awkward gait on land, the blue-footed booby dines solely on fish. Flying over the water, generally no higher than 25 meters, it keeps its bill pointed downward, poised for action. When it spots a fish it breaks into a graceful dive, making almost no splash as it enters the water, then popping up on the surface a few feet away clutching its meal in its beak. The bird is such an accurate dive bomber that it has even been known to catch flying fish mid-leap. Unlike other boobies, the blue-footed booby can also dive from a floating position on the surface of the water. Female usually lay two or three blue-green eggs in shallow depressions on flat ground, far away from other nests. They lacks "brooding patches" of skin to keep the eggs warm, so instead it uses its feet to incubate them. (Despite their blue appearance, the feet have an excellent blood supply.) The eggs take about 45 days to hatch.
Size: 5100px × 3400px
Location: La Plata Island, Galapagos, Ecuador, South America
Photo credit: © DV Wildlife / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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