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 LC    Brown Booby* Id (Atlas): 102
    Sula leucogaster

Description (10)
Image of Brown Booby
  Male: Plumage dark brown except for white belly, underwing and under tail-coverts. Naked face. Eye, white or grey. Eye-ring, blue. Chin, blue. Bill, base blue and rest grey-cream. Feet, green-yellow. Webbing, green-yellow.

Female: Plumage dark brown except for white belly, underwing and under tail-coverts. Eye-ring, yellow-green. Chin, yellow-green. Bill, base yellow-green and rest grey-cream. Feet, yellow. Webbing, yellow. Blue patch in front of eye.

Immatures: Dull brown where adult is dark. Pale grey where adult is white. Face, green-yellow. Chin, green-yellow. Bill, base green-yellow and rest pale green. Feet, green-yellow.


Other Names (World)
Brown Booby, Brown Gannet, Black Gannet, Common Booby, White-bellied Booby, White-bellied Gannet

Family
Sulidae (Gannets, Boobies)

Size
65 - 76 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Boddaert, 1783)

Derivation
Su’-la - Gk, sulan, to plunder: lëüc-o-gas’-ter - Gk, leucos, white; Gk, gaster, belly

Abundance (Guide)
LA

Common on the northern coast of Australia from North West Cape to WA and south-eastern Qld. Breeds on islands off noth-western WA and on the Barrier Reef.

Habitat
Marine, mainly in, but not restricted to, tropical seas. From sea-level - 100 m.

Range (Guide)
American Samoa, Anguilla (B), Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Australia (B), Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory (B), Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, China (mainland), Christmas Island (B), Cocos (Keeling) Islands (B), Colombia, Comoros, Cook Islands (B), Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Fiji (B), French Guiana, French Polynesia (B), Gabon, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam (NB), Guatemala, Guinea (B), Guinea-bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica (B), Japan, Jordan (NB), Kenya, Kiribati, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands (B), Martinique, Mauritania, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia [Federated States of] (B) (NB), Montserrat, Myanmar, Nauru (NB), Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia (B), Nicaragua, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands (B), Palau (B), Panama, Philippines (B), Puerto Rico, Samoa, Sâo Tomé e Principe (B), Saudi Arabia (B), Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands (B), Somalia, Sri Lanka, St Helena, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB), Tonga (B), Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (B), United States Minor Outlying Islands (B), USA, Vanuatu (B), Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (British) (B) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (B) (NB), Wallis and Futuna Islands (B), Yemen (B).

Vagrant to Benin, Bermuda, Gambia, Ghana, Hong Kong (China), Morocco, Mozambique, New Zealand, Oman, Portugal, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.

Unknown to Chile.

Image of Range of Brown Booby
Mainly tropical seas. Breeds on off-shore islands along the noth-western coast of Western Australia, in Torres Strait, and along the Great Barrier Reef south to the Bunker Group. Common south to the Dampier Archipelago in the west and Moreton Bay, Qld. Straggler further south.
 
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is 200,000 (2010).

Status LC
Secure.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Fish.

Voice
Harsh quacking by female, soft hissing by male in displays and at nest.



Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (23)...)

 
Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) [XC794731]
     by Frank Lambert from Sharma, Duba, Tabuk Province, Saudi Arabia (begging call)

 
Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) [XC395000]
     by Jo\u00e3o Tom\u00e1s from S\u00e3o Pedro (near Peniche), Peniche, Leiria, Portugal (flight call)

Breeding Season (Guide)
Throughout the year, with peaks in spring and fall.

J F M A M J J A S O N D
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Nest
A depression in soil or sand, around which is placed suitable material near at hand, such as, seaweed and coral.

Eggs (Guide)
Usually 2; greenish-white, with a coating of lime; oval; 64 x 46 mm. Incubation: 43 – 47 days; by both sexes.

Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 120 days.

Subspecies
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:

  • leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783)   -  Red Sea, Atlantic and Caribbean.
  • plotus (Forster, JR, 1844)   -  Eastern Pacific from Pitcairn and Bonin Islands, west through Indonesia and Australia, to eastern African coast.
  • brewsteri Goss, 1888   -  North-eastern tropical Pacific.
  • etesiaca Thayer & Bangs, 1905   -  Far central-eastern Pacific.


Similar Species
Immature Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator), immature Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra), immature Red-footed Booby (Sula sula).


References
See References.

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

More... see more information (images, calls, videos etc)


Files:
JPG files for Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) - 10 filesMP3 files for Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) - 1 files


More Information

BirdLife International

For more information about the Brown Booby see... Show Articles BirdLife International Species Factsheet.


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