Audubon
Type in your search and hit enter
Type in your search and hit go

Guide to North American Birds

 Find a Bird

Adult. Photo: Kathy Drouin/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)

Blue-footed Booby

Sula nebouxii

Often shown in documentaries about the Galapagos, where pairs bow and shuffle and show off their blue feet, the Blue-footed Booby also nests as far north as western Mexico. In some years, small numbers stray north into the southwestern United States, mainly to the Salton Sea, California.
Family Boobies and Gannets
Often shown in documentaries about the Galapagos, where pairs bow and shuffle and show off their blue feet, the Blue-footed Booby also nests as far north as western Mexico. In some years, small numbers stray north into the southwestern United States, mainly to the Salton Sea, California.
Photo Gallery



Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.

Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds

Download Our Bird Guide App

Songs and Calls
Usually silent; trumpeting and whistling noises on breeding grounds.
Audio © Lang Elliott, Bob McGuire, Kevin Colver, Martyn Stewart and others.
Learn more about this sound collection.

Blue-footed Booby In the News More News

Why Frigatebirds Can't Float
Podcast

Why Frigatebirds Can't Float

The seabirds can stay aloft over the open ocean for months, but they don't really have a choice.

Read more

Audubon Chapters

Record Number of Scarlet Macaws Take Flight

Read more

Explore Similar Birds

These birds need your help