Blue-Footed Booby

ocean birds · tropical · funny dancers · colorful

Feet like gemstones. The blue-footed booby's feet are such a bright, vivid blue that they look painted on. This incredible color comes from what the bird eats, especially small fish and seafood rich in special pigments.

The foot-stomping dance. Male blue-footed boobies do one of nature's silliest mating dances, lifting their bright blue feet up and down while strutting in front of females. It's like they're saying, 'Look how fabulous my feet are!'

Females are the bigger ones. Unlike many birds, female blue-footed boobies are actually larger than males, growing up to 90 centimeters long with wingspans reaching 1.5 meters (about as wide as a door is tall).

Eastern Pacific home. These funny birds live in the warm, subtropical and tropical waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, making them native to places like the Galapagos Islands and nearby coasts.

Part of the booby family. The blue-footed booby belongs to a family of seabirds called Sulidae, and there are six different booby species swimming around the world's oceans today.