Adults: Several color forms. White birds have yellow sheen on head and neck, black primaries and secondaries. Tail, white. Underparts, white. Eye-ring, blue. Eye, brown. Bill, pale blue with brown tip and red or pink base rimmed with black. Feet, red. Brown birds have all grey-brown plumage. Intermediates are brown on head and neck and white behind.
Juveniles: Dull grey-brown, darker above than below. Dark breast band. Face, grey-blue. Eye, green-grey. Bill, black. Feet, grey-pink.
Immatures: Mottled white on brown with dark brown wing and tail feathers. Bill, brown. Feet, brick-red.
Downy Young: White. Bill, black.
Other Names (World)
Red-footed Booby, Red-faced Gannet, Red-legged Gannet
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory (B), Cayman Islands (B), China (mainland), Christmas Island (B), Cocos (Keeling) Islands (B), Colombia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam (NB), Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica (B), Japan, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands (B), Martinique, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia [Federated States of] (B), Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands (B), Palau (B), Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico (B), Réunion (B), Samoa, Seychelles (B), Solomon Islands (B), Sri Lanka, St Helena (B), St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Timor-Leste (NB), Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, United States Minor Outlying Islands (B), USA (B), Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (British) (B) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (B) (NB), Wallis and Futuna Islands (B).
Vagrant to Hong Kong (China), Kenya, Maldives, Mauritius (E) (B), Nauru, Oman, Portugal, Russia (Asian), Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, United Arab Emirates.
Nest
A substantial platform of interwoven sticks, with a shallow depression in the center, placed in a shrubby bush, well off the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
1; pale greenish- or bluish-white, with a coating of lime; oval; 61 x 41 mm. Incubation: about 45 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 91 - 112 days. In Galapagos a significantly longer period is required to become fully independent (220 - 230 days).
Subspecies
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet