An inhabitant of the Galapagos islands

INTRODUCTION

The blue footed boobies, one of the six species of genus Sula, is a bird native to the Galapagos Island and some parts of Peru in the Pacific Ocean. These birds are very unique from other birds in many ways.

Their major staple includes fishes like sardines, anchovies, mackerel and flying fish. The process of hunting starts by spotting out a fish in the ocean bed. Once, the lead booby has seen its prey, it starts to emit soft sounds to signal other members of its group to dive for fish. Their long wings are kept close to the streamlined bodies and plunge into the water body. An astonishing fact is that they have an extremely streamlined shape that there is hardly and splash. Blue footed boobies live most of their lives- about 20 years- in the ocean shore.

DIFFERENT SPECIES OF THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

A total of three out of the six species inhabits the Galapagos Islands. This includes the blue footed, red footed and the masked ones. These are not only different in appearance, as the name suggests, but also in their behavior in mating. All catch fish is the same manner however their defined areas are distinct. Blue footed boobies hunt close to the shore, the red footed go a little outside while masked ones are at the farthest distances from the shore.

Blue-footed boobies Red-footed boobies Masked boobies

HOW THEY GOT THEIR NAMES Among all the species, the blue footed boobies are the most extrovert. They are absolutely fearless of humans making it more vulnerable for them being hunted. Due this fearlessness and their clumsy nature on their habitat, their named from a Spanish word “bobo” which means foolish.

CREATING TERRITORIES

Here is where the blue footed boobies stand out. Their webbed feet have many significant roles, especially in their courtship ceremony during the ‘booby dance’. The male birds have to win mate. For this he walks around the female, lifting his bright blue feet while getting his shoulders down with crossed wings. The female also take part in activities like lifting her feet, squawking at her mate and sky pointing. After mating, these birds do not construct nests because they lay eggs on the bare ground. The male and female birds bring twigs from trees and bushes and exchange them as presents for their courtship. As a result of the dropping of these twigs, it creates a territory for their ‘family’. No other booby is allowed to enter this territory. Anyone who leaves this encircled territory will be removed from their group permanently.

PROTECTING THEIR EGGS

A female booby lays from about one to three eggs at a time on the ground. Unlike other birds, they don’t have areas of skin that has an incubating property to warm their eggs. Instead it uses its webbed feet, that has a huge network of blood vessels that provide warmth to the eggs.

FEEDING THEIR BABIES

The male boobies are comparatively smaller than female ones. When young babies are hatched, the male has a major role of bringing fish home while the mother protects her chicks. These young ones require frequent feeding in small intervals of time. Once the baby chicks have grown, they would require a greater number of fishes to satisfy their needs. This time the mother brings food home. Due to her larger size, she is able to bring more fishes for the chicks to feed on.

COPING UP WITH FOOD SHORTAGE

Boobies feed only on different types of fishes. Hence a shortage of food in proximity to their territory will become a problem. In this case, the mother feeds the older chick first followed by the successive ones. This ensures that at least one of the family chicks survive instead of loosing all of their nest mates.