I Love You with All My Boobies Christmas Card

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The blue-footed booby ( Sula nebouxii) is a marine bird native to subtropical and tropical regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is one of six species of the genus Sula – known as boobies. It is easily recognizable by its distinctive bright blue feet, which is a sexually selected trait and a product of their diet. Males display their feet in an elaborate mating ritual by lifting them up and down while strutting before the female. The female is slightly larger than the male and can measure up to 90cm (35in) long with a wingspan up to 1.5m (5ft). [2] a b Harris, M. 2001. "Sula nebouxii" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed September 22, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Sula_nebouxii/

Males also assess their partner's reproductive value and adjust their own investment in the brood according to their partner's condition. Females that lay larger and brighter eggs are in better condition and have greater reproductive value. Therefore, males tend to display higher attentiveness and parental care to larger eggs, since those eggs were produced by a female with apparent good genetic quality. Smaller, duller eggs garnered less paternal care. Female foot color is also observed as an indication of perceived female condition. In one experiment, the color of eggs was muted by researchers, males were willing to exercise similar care for both large eggs and small eggs if his mate had brightly colored feet, whereas males paired with dull-footed females only incubated larger eggs. Researchers also found that males did not increase their care when females exhibited both bright feet and high-quality offspring. [21] Behavior and ecology [ edit ] Hunting and feeding [ edit ] Feeding of a juvenile Sequence showing plunge-diving from beginning to end Blue-footed boobies fishing in a large groupa b "Blue-Footed Booby". National Geographic. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010 . Retrieved 26 November 2012. The natural breeding habitats of the blue-footed booby are the tropical and subtropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. It can be found from the Gulf of California south along the western coasts of Central and South America to Peru. About half of all breeding pairs nest on the Galápagos Islands. [3] Its diet mainly consists of fish, which it obtains by diving and sometimes swimming under water in search of its prey. It sometimes hunts alone, but usually hunts in groups. [4] On the Galápagos Islands D'Alba, Liliana; Torres, Roxana; Bortolotti, G.R. (2007). "Seasonal egg-mass variation and laying sequence in a bird with facultative brood reductions". The Auk. 124 (2): 643–652. doi: 10.1642/0004-8038(2007)124[643:sevals]2.0.co;2. Drop ’em out, let me see them ti - - ies,” the 2015 country song goes. “Gonna take a long look at those tig ol’ bitties.” Blue-footed boobies make raucous or polysyllabic grunts or shouts and thin whistling noises. The males of the species have been known to throw up their heads and whistle at a passing, flying female. These ritual displays are also a form of communication.

Anderson, David J. (1989). "Differential responses of boobies and other seabirds in the Galápagos to the 1986–87 El Nino- Southern Oscillation event". Marine Ecology Progress Series. 52: 209–216. doi: 10.3354/meps052209. Angier, Natalie (March 6, 2017). "On Galapagos, Revealing the Blue-Footed Booby's True Colors". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 22, 2022 . Retrieved September 26, 2022. a b Drummond, Hugh; Gonzalez, Edda; Osorno, Jose Luis (1986). "Parent-Offspring Cooperation in the Blue-footed Booby ( Sula nebouxii): Social Roles in Infanticidal Brood Reduction". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 19 (5): 365–372. doi: 10.1007/bf00295710. S2CID 36417383.Its closest relative is the Peruvian booby. The two species likely split from each other recently due to their shared ecological and biological characteristics. [10] A 2011 study of multiple genes calculated the two species diverged between 1.1 and 0.8 million years ago. [11] The blue-footed booby was described by the French naturalist Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 1882 under the current binomial name Sula nebouxii. [6] The specific epithet was chosen to honor the surgeon, naturalist, and explorer Adolphe-Simon Neboux (1806–1844). [7] There are two recognized subspecies: [8] a b c d "Blue-footed Booby Day". Galapagos Conservation Trust. 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012 . Retrieved 26 November 2012. Blue Footed Boobies always seem to garner a snigger when people hear the name. It is thought their name derives from “bobo”, a Spanish slang term for stupid- a reference to their clumsy way of walking and how easily the birds could be captured by 18th century Spanish sailors. They often accompany sea faring vessels and have very little fear of humans. Schoolboy humor aside, I could not wait to actually see one of these birds that I had only heard about. Blue-footed Booby, Sula nebouxii". MarineBio. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012 . Retrieved December 21, 2012.