Blue-Footed Booby
I wish I had a picture of the blue-footed booby diving into the sea,
but at least I got one taking off. It didn't ever seem to concern them
how shallow the water was -- the blue-footed booby would circle and
hover about 20-30 feet in the air, then tuck its wings in for a full-on
plummet/dive head-first into the ocean. Sometimes it would come up
with a fish.
The blue-footed booby is about the size of a large seagull, and it looks
like one, too, in flight. They were quite abundant. We found them on
all islands. July was a great time to visit the Galapagos because it
was breeding season.
The breeding schedule was different on every island. On one island we
would see boobies courting, the next island they had eggs, the next
island there were hatchlings... kinda strange since the islands weren't
really that far apart.
Courting went something like this: One booby would alternate slowly
lifting his feet in the air. The other booby would honk or wheeze
depending on what sex it was (I forget which did which). That was about
it. The blue-footed boobies shared rookery space with the waved
albatross, frigate birds, and anyone else who didn't mind their
presence (in the picture below you can see a few albatross, some
boobies, and even a mockingbird). Many would setup shop right in the
middle of the walking path, and you had to be alert so as not to step on
one (that would be a booby trap. HA!).
Blue-footed boobies typically laid 2 eggs, sometimes 3. Mother and
father would take turns incubating while the other would find food.
Babies are prey for frigate birds and hawks, so parents have to be
vigilant at all times. Here you can see a hatchling or 2 peeking out
from underneath a parent.
As the boobies grow they get some fuzz. Their feet almost look
full-size, but the blue isn't there yet. Soon they are too big to fit
beneath mom and spend the rest of their time growing up outside.
The remarkable thing about the Galapagos Islands is that I photographed
a process that takes at least 2 months in only 4 days, simply because
each island is on a different schedule.
Mick@micktravels.com
