Brown Booby

Sula leucogasterOrder: PELECANIFORMESFamily: Booby and Gannets (Sulidae)
Brown Booby Breeding Male Portrait
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Range Map for Brown Booby

Overview

Brown Booby: Large, gull-like seabird, mostly dark brown with white underwing coverts, belly, and vent. Blue-gray bill. Yellow legs and feet. Plunge dives from 30-50 feet. Feeds on parrot fish, flatfish, mullets, halfbeaks and other fish. Alternates strong rapid wing beats with glides.

Range and Habitat

Brown Booby: Worldwide in tropical seas; summer visitor to the Gulf coast and Caribbean Sea; casually farther north in western Atlantic; occasionally seen in southern California’s Salton Sea; accidental along Pacific coast. Pelagic, breeds on coastal islands.

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Listen:

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Voice Text

Generally silent

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Related Birds:

Brown Pelican
American White Pelican
Blue-footed Booby
Red-footed Booby
Masked Booby
Northern Gannet
.

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Family Booby and Gannets (Sulidae)_blue
Species Sula leucogaster
Length26 - 29 Inches
Wingspan55.5 Inches

Brown Booby

Brown Booby: Large, gull-like seabird, mostly dark brown with white underwing coverts, belly, and vent. Blue-gray bill. Yellow legs and feet. Plunge dives from 30-50 feet. Feeds on parrot fish, flatfish, mullets, halfbeaks and other fish. Alternates strong rapid wing beats with glides.

● Song: Generally silent

● Foraging & Feeding: Brown Booby: Eats parrotfish, mullets, flatfish, halfbeaks, flying fish, and other fish; forages by plunge diving or skimming the surface to catch fish that leap clear of the surf.

● Breeding & nesting: Brown Booby: One to three white to pale blue-green eggs with chalky coating are laid in a shallow ground depression lined with grass, twigs, and debris. Incubation ranges from 40 to 47 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Brown Booby: Red-footed Booby dark morph is brown overall with brown underwings and red feet.

Flight Pattern

Strong, moderately rapid wing beats interrupted by sailing glide.
Brown Booby Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Brown Booby: Worldwide in tropical seas; summer visitor to the Gulf coast and Caribbean Sea; casually farther north in western Atlantic; occasionally seen in southern California’s Salton Sea; accidental along Pacific coast. Pelagic, breeds on coastal islands.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationCasual to rare
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight38.4 Ounces