Galápagos wildlife · Bird
The blue-footed booby
Sula nebouxii excisa · Sulidae
Short answer
The blue feet are an honest advertisement. The colour comes from carotenoid pigments the bird can only get from fresh fish, and it fades within 48 hours if it stops eating well. So a male with brilliant blue feet is demonstrably a good hunter, right now — and females choose on exactly that. The courtship dance exists to show the feet off.
Actual size
beak tip to tail.
- Length
- 80 cm
- Weight
- 1.2–1.8 kg
- Lifespan
- Around 17 years
The name has nothing to do with the feet. It comes from the Spanish <em>bobo</em> — fool — because the birds were so unafraid of sailors that they were trivially easy to catch.
Where you actually see one
This is the part a general encyclopedia cannot tell you: not where the species occurs, but which sites you can stand on, and what each one is like.
- 1
North Seymour — The nesting colony
The classic site: nests on open ground beside the path, courtship dances at close range. Day tour from Santa Cruz.
- 2
Española — Punta Suárez
Boobies alongside albatross and marine iguanas. Cruise access.
- 3
Isabela — Los Túneles and Tintoreras
Feeding dives close to the boat — the plunge from height is worth the trip on its own.
- 4
San Cristóbal — Kicker Rock
Nesting on the cliff ledges above the snorkelling channel.
When to go for this one
Year-round. Courtship and nesting peak roughly June to August on North Seymour, though pairs display in most months.
The archipelago has two seasons and they are good at different things — we break both down here, month by month.
How to tell it apart
- The feet. Nothing else in the islands has them.
- Brown wings, white underparts, and a pale streaked head that looks perpetually surprised.
- Males are smaller with a much brighter foot colour; females have a larger dark pupil ring.
What it does, and why
- Plunge-dives from up to 25 m, hitting the water at around 100 km/h with the wings folded back.
- The male lifts each foot in turn in front of the female, then sky-points with the bill and whistles. She honks.
- Nests on bare ground and rings the nest with guano — that white circle is the property line.
Why people miss it, and who it is not for
This is the part we can write and an encyclopedia cannot: what actually goes wrong when someone comes looking for this animal. It is from running these islands, not from a field guide.
Come outside the courtship season and there is no dance
The high-stepping display that put this bird on every poster is a breeding behaviour. Birds are present year-round; the dance is not guaranteed, and no operator can promise it.
The blue is not the same blue on every bird
Foot colour tracks how well the male has been eating, and it fades within days. In a poor food year the whole colony looks washed out. That is the fact, not a bad photograph.
There are three boobies here and people conflate them
Nazca boobies are white with a dark mask; red-footed boobies nest in trees and are mostly on Genovesa. The blue-footed is the one on open ground. Guides say all three names in one sentence and visitors hear one.
Conservation status
IUCN Red List: Least Concern globally; the Galápagos population has declined sharply
Globally Least Concern, but the Galápagos population fell by more than half between the 1960s and 2012, apparently tracking a decline in the sardines they depend on. Nesting has been poor in many recent years.
Questions people ask about the blue-footed booby
Why are blue-footed boobies’ feet blue?
Carotenoid pigments from a diet of fresh fish, deposited in the feet. The colour is a live signal of how well the bird is feeding: stop it eating well and the blue fades within about 48 hours. Females prefer the brightest feet, which is why the dance exists.
Where do you see blue-footed boobies in the Galápagos?
North Seymour has the most accessible nesting colony and is a day trip from Santa Cruz. Española is the other great site but needs a cruise. You will also see them plunge-diving off Isabela and nesting on the cliffs of Kicker Rock.
Are blue-footed boobies only in the Galápagos?
No — they range along the eastern Pacific from Mexico to Peru. But roughly half the world’s breeding pairs are in the Galápagos, and nowhere else lets you stand two metres from a nest.
What does the courtship dance mean?
The male lifts each blue foot in turn, then points bill and wings to the sky and whistles. It is a display of foot colour, and therefore of hunting condition. The female answers with a honk — males whistle, females honk, which is how guides sex them by ear.
What else is on the same islands
These share at least one island with the blue-footed booby. On a real day out you are likely to see several of them on the same walk.
- Galápagos giant tortoise — Isabela, San Cristóbal
- Marine iguana — Isabela, San Cristóbal
- Galápagos sea lion — San Cristóbal, Española, Isabela
- Galápagos penguin — Isabela
- Green sea turtle — Isabela, San Cristóbal
- Galápagos shark — San Cristóbal
- Scalloped hammerhead — San Cristóbal
- Red-lipped batfish — Isabela
- Waved albatross — Española
- Magnificent frigatebird — North Seymour, San Cristóbal
- Flightless cormorant — Isabela
- Galápagos land iguana — North Seymour, Isabela
- Galápagos fur seal — Isabela
- Sally Lightfoot crab — Isabela