Masked Booby

Sula dactylatra Lesson, RP, 1831

75–85 cmLength152 cmWingspan1.7 kgWeight

This large booby has a white body, black wings and tail, and a ring-like black “mask” on its face.

Most records: Norfolk Island, U.S. Outlying Islands, United States

Looks like Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

White overall, wings and tail black
Bare skin on face and throat black or blue-black, resembling a mask
Bill long, pointed and yellowish
Legs yellow-orange or olive

Male, female and young

Sexes similar in plumage; female slightly heavier and larger on average. Juvenile head and back mottled gray-brown, with a white collar around the neck.

Voice

Usually silent at sea, but noisy at nesting colonies: male gives a descending whistle, female loud horn-like calls.

Similar species

Red-footed Booby

The white morph of Red-footed Booby looks similar but is smaller.

Brown Booby

Juvenile resembles Brown Booby, but adult Brown Booby has a clear boundary between rufous and white.

Where and when it's recorded

Most records: Norfolk Island, U.S. Outlying Islands, United States

Masked Booby has been recorded at 163 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 62 countries and regions.

Records by month Southern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Midway Atoll NWR – Eastern IslandU.S. Outlying Islands321 records
Norfolk Island National Park – Captain Cook MemorialNorfolk Island236 records
Norfolk Island – Phillip IslandNorfolk Island232 records

More places

Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States130 records
Norfolk Island – main islandNorfolk Island77 records
Hundred Acres ReserveNorfolk Island57 records
East KhawrOman53 records
Henderson Island – North LandingPitcairn Islands51 records
Palmyra Atoll NWRU.S. Outlying Islands48 records
Nearshore waters (0-2mi/3km) - James Bay to Egg IslandSt. Helena43 records

Countries and regions with the most records

Norfolk Island U.S. Outlying Islands United States St. Helena Pitcairn Islands Oman Cocos (Keeling) Islands French Polynesia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The masked booby (Sula dactylatra), also called the masked gannet or the blue-faced booby, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson in 1831, the masked booby is one of six species of booby in the genus Sula. It has a typical sulid body shape, with a long pointed yellowish bill, long neck, aerodynamic body, long slender wings and pointed tail.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Masked Booby?

The Masked Booby is about 75–85 cm long, with a wingspan of 152 cm and weighs around 1.7 kg.

Where does the Masked Booby live?

Its breeding range: Tropical Oceans: widespread, subtropical and tropical islands. It is most often recorded in Norfolk Island, U.S. Outlying Islands and United States.