This week’s bird is the blue-footed booby. This small, hilariously named bird is native to tropical and subtropical islands on the west coast of North and South America, from the Gulf of California down to Peru. About half of all breeding pairs nest in the Galapagos islands. Its closest relative is the Peruvian booby, and genetic studies show that they most likely diverged around one million years ago, possibly as few as 800,000. “The name booby comes from the Spanish word bobo (“stupid”, “foolish”, or “clown”) because the blue-footed booby is, like other seabirds, clumsy on land.[3] They are also regarded as foolish for their apparent fearlessness of humans.[2]“
The blue-footed booby is strictly a marine bird. It only comes to land to breed and raise young. It may defend several nesting sites before developing a preference for one some weeks before eggs are laid. The nests are grouped into large colonies, and boobies will often return to nest their parents used, since obviously the nest was in a good location that resulted in viable young. When sitting in the nest, the female turns to face the sun throughout the day, so the nest is surrounded by a neat circle of bird poop.
Both males and females have blue feet, and the color of the feet is a quick and accurate indicator of the bird’s immunological and general health. Scientists deprived boobies of food for 48 hours and saw that the color in their feet grew more dull even in such a short timeframe. Because foot color is such an obvious indicator of health for the bird, foot coloration is a major factor in choosing who to mate with. Females with bright blue feet will lay bigger and brighter eggs, and males will expend more effort caring for these eggs, since they were laid by a healthy partner. Smaller and duller eggs will generally attract less parental care from the male, although not in all cases, as we’ll see. In one experiment, scientists used makeup to dull the eggs, and found that males will care with equal vigor for large bright eggs as well as smaller, duller eggs as long as they were laid by a female with bright blue feet. By contrast, males exhibited less care for eggs laid by a female with artificially dulled feet, regardless of the egg’s size or luster.
Along similar lines, another study involved dulling the feet of a male after the first egg was laid. While the first egg was big and bright, the egg the female laid after seeing her partner’s duller feet was smaller and contained less yolk and less yolk androgens (roughly speaking, developmental hormones). The female will not invest as much in creating offspring with an unhealthy looking male.
Blue-footed boobies hunt on the surface of the sea and below it. Because they dive into the water, their nostrils are permanently fused shut, and they breath through small gaps at the base of their bills. They eat small schooling fish like sardines, anchovies, mackerel and flying fish, as well as squid and leftover chunks of meals hunted by larger animals. They hunt alone, in pairs, or in large flocks, and typically travel in groups of 12 looking for food. When the lead boob spots suitable food, it signals the others and they dive in unison. These dives take place from heights of around 10–30.5 m (33–100 ft), but have been observed as high as 100m or 330 ft. They hit the water at 97 kph or about 60.25 mph. All that speed means they will end up 25m (80 ft) underwater. Their skulls have air pockets inside which protect their brains from the pressure at that depth, which is around two and a half atmospheres. Blue-footed boobies prefer to eat their food under those adverse circumstances, having already consumed their prey by the time they reach the surface again. I guess being a little feather bullet is decent insurance against anyone trying to steal your food once you went through all the trouble to get down there. “Males and females fish differently, which may contribute to why blue-foots, unlike other boobies, raise more than one young. The male is smaller and has a proportionally larger tail, which enables the male to fish in shallow areas and deep waters. The female is larger and can carry more food. Both the male and female feed the chicks through regurgitation.[22]“
Blue footed boobies are typically monogamous, although they have been observed being bigamous or in a triad, with two males and one female. The mating ritual focuses on the male parading around his blue feet. He then shows the female nesting materials he has gathered, before circling back around to strutting around. The ritual also includes “sky pointing,” where the male points his head upward while keeping his wings and tail raised. There is a ton to learn about this fascinating bird, but I had to draw the line somewhere on this header. I encourage you to check out the blue-footed booby on your own.
On a personal note, I know we are all frustrated and scared, and y’all in the PT are in my thoughts. As for me, I decided to take a step back from the news. I am going to focus on my family and ways I can help my community without being quite so plugged into the political day-to-day. I think I would like to once again participate in hobbies I put on the back burner while I spent the last eight years worrying. I am going to try to focus on the positive changes I can make around me, because in the end that’s all I can do.
Finally, on the lighter side, here is a text I got from Mrs Killsock that I thought was pretty funny.
Links: https://tinyurl.com/2394cfrr, https://tinyurl.com/53p5ffr9, https://tinyurl.com/4s4pyktd, https://tinyurl.com/57n24zm8, https://tinyurl.com/2wj2aksv