BirdUp · Species
Red-footed Booby
Sula sula(Linnaeus, 1766)
Updated
At a glance
The Red-footed Booby is a very large bird, about 70–80 cm long, native to Australia. It can be seen year-round.
- Size
- 70–80 cm
- Origin
- Native
- Best seen
- Year-round
- Commonness
- Common
01 · Identification
How to tell it apart
What does a Red-footed Booby look like?
The Red-footed Booby is a very large bird, about 70–80 cm long.
The red-footed booby is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, harnessing the wind to fly efficiently, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They forage by catching flying fish from above the ocean's surface and by performing shallow dives. They are found widely in the tropics, and breed colonially in coastal regions, especially isolated islands such as St. Brandon, Mauritius, and the Chagos Archipelago. Although its population is declining, it is considered to be a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It faces threats from climate change, competition with fisheries, human disturbance, and invasive species.
Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
03 · When
When to look
When can you see a Red-footed Booby?
The Red-footed Booby is present across its Australian range year-round, so it can be seen in any month.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
05 · Behaviour
Habits and haunts
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