Cute Booby Wearing Blue Shoes
Have you ever seen a cute bird with webbed feet but in blue color? It is a cute creation by the nature. Blue makes them unique. It is the Blue-footed booby.
You may think they are painted. No. The concentration of carotenoid pigments is the reason for this color in feet. Not only that, these carotenoid pigments act as antioxidants and stimulate their immune system too. Galapagos is home to half of the population of boobies but they can be found in some other areas too. El Salvador, Panama, Columbia in South America, and Chile in Northern America are some of them. The name booby comes from Spain and bobo means silly or stupid. This tropical Eastern Pacific native bird is a marine bird. Bare ground is the nest for them to lay eggs. But they prefer the marine environment to live in.
Even the booby’s feet are blue, his body is brown and white. The neck is totally white while the above part is brown in color. It has wide yellow eyes with a pointed beak. Its feathered tail is designed for deep-sea diving. Adult birds have more bluish feet than younger ones. Fishing is the activity that they do to spend more time of the day. They spend the rest of the time resting.
Galapagos Hawk is a threat or an enemy of this cute bird when they are in the nest alone without their parents. Not only that, but human is also a predator due to the pollution and illegal fishing that humans do. Around 20,000 of this bird population are threatened by the egg collectors too. This booby bird prefers to hunt sardines, anchovies, and small fish species for consumption.
Advertisement
The male birds throw up their heads and whistle the female ones and communicate with each other. The males dance in front of the females to impress. Females choose the males with the brightest blue feet to mate. Female birds become sexually mature between 1-6 years. But the males become sexually mature during the period of 2-6 years. At every 8 to 9 months, the breeding process happens in separate breeding grounds. Usually, the female lays two to three eggs. The couple incubates the eggs with the support of the partner. The non-sitting party does watching around to protect their newly laid eggs from the predators. This blue-footed booby is the only bird from the two species of boobies, that raise more than one chick. The period of incubation is around 41-45 days. They use their unique, webbed feet to safeguard their kids from the weather and keep them warm.
Sula nebouxii nebouxii found in North and South America and Sula nebouxii excisa are the two subspecies of this blue-footed bobby. Can a booby have non-blue color feet? Yes, sometimes. Malnutrition and illnesses can affect their feet to be pale and colorless without being blue. Which type of boobies has the brightest blue feet? Males and young ones do not get that many bright feet. Females get the brightest feet. Can you imagine if I say that the females are bigger than the males? Males are 32 inches tall while the female blue-footed boobies are 35 inches tall. The booby bird weighs 3-4 pounds. They have nostrils to breathe oxygen but can you believe that they are permanently sealed shut? They have to breathe via the corners of their mouths to take the air. That’s an amazing fact to know.
When the mother feeds the weak siblings, the other babies ask for more food and attack the weak ones. Sometimes, some baby birds push their siblings out of the nest too and sometimes the babies peck their siblings or harm the siblings. That is happening because the strong ones try to kill the weak ones even they are siblings. Females use a trick for this problem by making deep nests.
This amazing living creature lives approximately 15-17 years. Growing up to become an adult is a challenge for baby birds because snakes, hawks, and other reptiles are always alert to target the eggs and the babies. The baby blue-footed boobies look like white cotton balls to protect their bodies and keep warm until they grow up. Their feet are white or grey until they grow.
Do they fly? Yes. They fly far to see and catch fish for their diets. These birds are very social. They live in groups and hunt in groups too. Here is another interesting fact about this cute bird. They return to the nesting sites where they were born thinking that it would give more protection for the babies if that place provided warmth and security for them during their childhoods. Do u agree if I say that the females are stronger than the male blue-footed boobies? As previously mentioned, females are weighing more than males, females can dive also deeper than male ones.
They call each other. Do they have landlines or mobiles with them? Absolutely no. Calling means they communicate with each other by different methods. They whistle during mating and they yell and shriek. They have unique sound patterns that the listening party is able to understand. They do not carry diseases to humans. The maturity of these birds can be identified through the darker or the lighter color of blue because the matured birds have a darker blue color than the younger birds.
Have you ever seen it when this bird is laughing? The blue-footed booby has an amazing way to cool themselves after being overheated by the sun. It opens his mouth and vibrates the skin in the neck. That is not laughing even it seems like that. This bird sleeps at night on land and they feed at sea in the daytime. All the animals are made out of the features that suit and help them to adapt to the environment they live in. The blue-footed boobies are also the same. You may have realized it by going through the facts in detail.
