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  1. Species
  2. ›
  3. Sulidae
  4. ›
  5. Papasula
  6. ›
  7. Abbott's Booby

BirdUp · Species

Abbott's Booby

Papasula abbotti(Ridgway, 1893)

Conservation status: EndangeredOrigin: Endemic
Order
SULIFORMES
Family
Sulidae
Genus
Papasula

At a glance

The Abbott's Booby is a very large bird, about 79 cm long, listed as Endangered and endemic to Australia. It is best seen in summer.

Size
79 cm
Conservation status
Endangered
Origin
Endemic
Best seen
Summer
Commonness
Rare
  • Identification
  • Where
  • When
  • Behaviour

01 · Identification

How to tell it apart

What does an Abbott's Booby look like?

The Abbott's Booby is a very large bird, about 79 cm long and weighing 1250–1720 g.

Abbott's booby is an endangered seabird of the sulid family, which includes gannets and boobies. It is a large booby and is placed within its own monotypic genus. It was first identified from a specimen collected by William Louis Abbott, who discovered it on Assumption Island in 1892.

Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Field specs

Length
79 cm
Weight
1250–1720 g
Wingspan
176 cm

Measurements · avonet · CC BY 4.0

03 · When

When to look

When can you see an Abbott's Booby?

The Abbott's Booby is recorded across its Australian range in every month except March, June and October.

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

05 · Behaviour

Habits and haunts

What does an Abbott's Booby eat?

The Abbott's Booby feeds on fish/invertebrates, usually foraging in flocks.

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02 · Where

Where to find it

Where does the Abbott's Booby live in Australia?

The Abbott's Booby is endemic to Australia, recorded across 1 of Australia’s bioregions.

Breeding range
Christmas I. (south of west Java); formerly Assumption (Aldabra group, south-west Seychelles), Mauritius and Rodrigues (central and east Mascarenes, south-west Indian Ocean); subfossil remains from Solomon Is., Vanuatu, and Marquesas (north-east Polynesia)
Non-breeding range
To near Java, south and central Moluccas and south-west of New Guinea