Boobies, Galapagos

Three species of this marvellous sea bird make the Galapagos Islands their home: the blue-footed, the red-food and the Nazca booby. This local spot is a companion to the (name) postcard, and an opportunity for me to show you a nice gallery of booby pictures, and an example of their famous dance.

The blue-footed booby is the most famous of the boobies and the most common on the islands.  It is a highly friendly and charismatic creature that is unperturbed by the approach of humans and so makes a great photographic subject for the island’s tourists.  Just remember not to get too close and to leave their precious nests and eggs well alone.

 

The red-footed booby is the smallest of the island’s booby species and sports brilliant Ferrari-red feet, which it uses in the same way as its blue-footed cousins to attract a mate.  This bird’s smaller size allows it to nest in trees and shrubs, meaning it can keep its eggs away from greedy lizards and finches.

 

Finally, there’s my favourite, the Nazca booby.  More minimalist than its red and blue-footed cousins, its elegant and striking black and white plumage, arranged in a bold pattern, gives it an air of restrained dignity.  The Nazca doesn’t take part in the elaborate foot dance either.  Instead, its courtship rituals are a far more restrained affair, where it performs a simple upwards motion with its beak called ‘sky pointing’ and brings small gifts of sticks and stones to attract a mate.  Perhaps this understatedness is why it wasn’t recognized as a separate species until 2003, when the distinction was finally made between it and the similarly masked booby of South America.