Brown Booby

Adult Description Large, dark waterbird. Long body, long neck, long tail. Narrow, pointed wings. Brown head, throat, chest, and upperparts. White belly, vent, and wing linings Immature Description Juvenile is brown overall; belly ranges from mottled brown and white to mostly dark. Sharp line still visible between darker chest and lighter belly. Underwing coverts are pale. Bare parts generally dull gray.

Plunge-dives from various heights up to 15 m (50 feet). Folds wings next to body at beginning of dive, then thrusts wings straight out over back, touching in the middle, just before breaking the surface. Dive may reach just below surface, or to as much as 2 m (6 feet) deep. Commonly feeds in areas where large predatory fish such as tuna drive smaller fish to the surface. Also follows fishing vessels

A widespread seabird of tropical waters, the Brown Booby ranges as far north as the Gulf of California, and rarely to both coasts of the United States. Like other boobies, it feeds with spectacular plunges into the sea. The Brown Booby is the only ground-nesting booby that regularly builds a substantial nest. Like all boobies and pelicans, the Brown Booby's feet are "totipalmate," having webbing connecting all four toes. Brown Booby nests sometimes contain the bodies of dead Sooty Tern chicks. Male and female Brown Boobies generally look alike in plumage color, except in populations found along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Central and South America. There the females look like those in other populations, but the males have light gray to white heads.