Bird Album
Red-footed Booby
Sula sula (Linnaeus, 1766)
70 cmLength96 cmWingspan1 kgWeight
This red-footed seabird has several plumage color morphs, including white and rufous.
Most records: U.S. Outlying Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, Christmas Island
How to identify
Field marks
- Feet red, all four toes pointing forward, with extensive webbing between them
- White morph mostly white, with black flight feathers
- Rufous morph rufous overall; some have a white belly, rump and tail
- Bill stout and conical, with serrated edges
Male, female and young
Little difference between the sexes; juvenile grayish-rufous with pink feet.
Voice
Gives harsh croaking calls when greeting.
Where and when it's recorded
Most records: U.S. Outlying Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, Christmas Island
Red-footed Booby has been recorded at 219 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 67 countries and regions.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Little Tobago IslandTrinidad & Tobago1,096 records
- Midway Atoll NWR – Eastern IslandU.S. Outlying Islands444 records
- Midway Atoll NWR – Sand IslandU.S. Outlying Islands369 records
More places
- Pillar Point HarborUnited States334 records
- TetiaroaFrench Polynesia315 records
- Midway Atoll – Water Catchment AreaU.S. Outlying Islands304 records
- SettlementChristmas Island135 records
- Seabird Sanctuary, RotaNorthern Mariana Islands135 records
- Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States124 records
- Diego GarciaBritish Indian Ocean Territory116 records
Countries and regions with the most records
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 red-footed booby (Sula sula) 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.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Red-footed Booby?
The Red-footed Booby is about 70 cm long, with a wingspan of 96 cm and weighs around 1 kg.
Where does the Red-footed Booby live?
Its breeding range: Tropical Oceans: widespread tropical and subtropical ocean islands. It is most often recorded in U.S. Outlying Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and Christmas Island.
Is the Red-footed Booby endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Red-footed Booby as Least Concern.
What does the Red-footed Booby eat?
Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.
What family is the Red-footed Booby in?
It belongs to the family Gannets, Boobies (Sulidae), order Suliformes.
At a glance
- Length
- 70 cm
- Wingspan
- 96 cm
- Weight
- 1 kg
- Habitat
- Ocean
- Diet
- Fish, shrimp & shellfish
- Lifestyle
- Feeds in the air
- Migration
- Partial migrant
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 367 mm
- Tail
- 194 mm
- Bill
- 79 mm
- Tarsus
- 35 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Tropical Oceans: widespread tropical and subtropical ocean islands
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Subspecies · 1
- Sula sula rubripes tropical Indian and Pacific oceans: Europa (w of s Madagascar, Mozambique Channel), Aldabra and Cosmoledo (Aldabra group, sw Seychelles), Farquhar and Amirantes groups (c Seychelles), Tromelin and St. Brandon (n of Mascarenes), Chagos Arch., Cocos (Keeling) and Christmas is. (w, nc, ne Indian Ocean); Flores and Banda seas islands (sc, se Indonesian Arch.), Ashmore Reef and Adele I. (nw of Australia), Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea islands (off QLD, nw Australia), Tench I. (St. Matthias Is., nc Bismarck Arch.), many other islands in outer Melanesia including New Caledonia, Tubbataha Reefs (wc Philippines), Spratly Is. (s China Sea), s Ryukyu (=Nansei Shoto), Ogasawara (=Bonin) and Iwo (=Volcano) is. (sw, se Japan), Taiwan (China), Micronesia through Northwestern and w main Hawaiian Is. and Pitcairn group (e Polynesia)
Classification
- Order
- Suliformes
- Family
- Gannets, Boobies Sulidae
- Genus
- Sula
Other birds in the genus Sula
Brown BoobySula leucogaster
Cocos BoobySula brewsteri
Masked BoobySula dactylatra
Nazca BoobySula granti
Blue-footed BoobySula nebouxii
Peruvian BoobySula variegata
Abbott's BoobyPapasula abbotti
Northern GannetMorus bassanus
Cape GannetMorus capensis
Australasian GannetMorus serrator
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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by juju98. ↗
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