| Brown booby Temporal range: Middle Quaternary to recent[1] | |
|---|---|
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| Male | |
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| Female bothS. l. plotus | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Suliformes |
| Family: | Sulidae |
| Genus: | Sula |
| Species: | S. leucogaster |
| Binomial name | |
| Sula leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783) | |
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| World range,[3] with Brown booby subspecies in pink and purple: S. l. leucogaster S. l. plotus | |
Thebrown booby (Sula leucogaster) is a largeseabird of thebooby familySulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species.[3] It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brown booby commutes and forages at low height over inshore waters. Flocks plunge-dive to take small fish, especially when these are driven near the surface by their predators. They nest only on the ground, and roost on solid objects rather than the water surface.[3]
The brown booby was described by the French polymathGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in hisHistoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1781.[4] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved byFrançois-Nicolas Martinet in thePlanches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision ofEdme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.[5] Buffon did not include a scientific name with his description but in 1783 the Dutch naturalistPieter Boddaert coined thebinomial namePelecanus leucogaster in his catalogue of thePlanches Enluminées.[6] Thetype locality isCayenne inFrench Guiana.[7] The currentgenusSula was introduced by the French zoologistMathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.[8] The wordSula is Norwegian for agannet; the specificleucogaster is fromAncient Greekleuko for "white" andgastēr for "belly".[9] In 2024, the subspeciesbrewsteri andetesiaca were declared a distinct species by the nameCocos booby by theAmerican Ornithological Society,Clements Checklist, and theIOC World Bird List.
There are two recognisedsubspecies:[10]
_female_in_flight_Michaelmas_Cay.jpg)
The booby's head and upper body (back) is covered in dark brown to blackish plumage, with the remainder (belly) being a contrasting white. The bare-part colours vary geographically, but not seasonally.[3] The species also displayssexual dimorphism of the bare part colours, the males having a blueorbital ring, as opposed to the yellow orbital ring of the female.
The female booby reaches about 80 centimetres (31 in) in length, their wingspan measures up to 150 cm (4.9 ft), and they can weigh up to 1,300 g (2.9 lb). The male booby reaches about 75 centimetres (30 in) in length, their wingspan measures up to 140 cm (4.6 ft), and they can weigh up to 1,000 g (2.2 lb).[12]
Unlike other species of sulid, the juvenile plumage already resembles that of the adult.[3] They are grey-brown with darkening on the head, upper surfaces of the wings and tail, while the lower breast and underpart plumages are heavily flecked brown on white. Juveniles of subspeciesS. l. brewsteri are once again distinct in having the underpart plumage more evenly mouse brown.[3]
Their beaks are quite sharp and contain many jagged edges. They have fairly short wings resulting in a fast flap rate, but long, tapered tails. While these birds are typically silent, bird watchers have reported occasional sounds similar to grunting or quacking.
_pair_Michaelmas_Cay.jpg)
_female_and_juvenile_male_on_nest_Michaelmas_Cay.jpg)
_juvenile_Principe.jpg)
This species breeds on islands and coasts in thepantropical areas of theAtlantic andPacific oceans. They frequent the breeding grounds of the islands in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. With the rise in pollution in the world, brown boobies have been usingmarine debris to make their nests, with 90.1% of these nest were consisted of plastic, while nests near shipwreck have a high percentage of the wreckage debris.[13] This bird nests in large colonies, laying two chalky blue eggs on the ground in a mound of broken shells and vegetation, but usually raises just one chick, the second one to hatch being unable to compete for food with its older sibling, or even ejected from the nest by it.[14] Itwinters at sea over a wider area.
Brown booby pairs may remain together over several seasons. They perform elaborate greeting rituals, and are also spectacular divers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They eat mainly smallfish (such asflying fish,mullets,halfbeaks,anchovies,[15]goatfish,crowned squirrelfish, andIndian mackerels[16]),squids (including the familyOmmastrephidae),[16] orshrimps[15] which gather in groups near the surface and may catch leaping fish while skimming the surface. Along with plunge-diving, some fledglings and adults practicekleptoparasitism, where they steal prey from other seabirds. For example: brown boobies have been observed stealing prey fromgreat frigatebirds as they transfer food to their young.[16] Although they are powerful and agile fliers, they are particularly clumsy in takeoffs and landings; they use strong winds and high perches to assist their takeoffs.
Media related toSula leucogaster at Wikimedia Commons
Data related toSula leucogaster at WikispeciesAuthority control databases: National |
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