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.
Bibliographic Citation: "Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster)." The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds.
Citation Link Accessed 27 Jan 2014.
