Animal Corner

Discover the many amazing animals that live on our planet.

  • Home
  • A-Z Animals
  • Anatomy
  • Glossary
  • Animal Lists
    • Animal By Letter
    • Animals by Location
    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
  • Free Resources
    • Animal Coloring Pages
    • Animal Jokes
    • Animal Quizzes
  • Pets
    • Dog Breeds
    • Rabbit Breeds
    • Cat Breeds
    • Pet Rodents
    • Animal Care
  • Blog
You are here: Home / Animals / Galapagos Nazca Booby Bird

Galapagos Nazca Booby Bird

Image Source

The Nazca Booby Bird (Sula granti) is a booby bird which is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean, namely on the Galápagos Islands where it can be seen by eco-tourists and on Clipperton Island. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the Masked Booby but the Nazca Booby is now recognized as a separate species. The Nazca Booby co-occurs with the Masked Booby on Clipperton Island, where they may rarely hybridize.

(Interbreeding between hybrids within the same genus are sometimes known as interspecific hybrids or crosses. Hybrids between different sub-species within a species are known as intra-specific hybrids).

Nazca Booby Bird

Nazca Booby Birds are the largest of all the boobie birds on the Galapagos Islands. Nazca Booby birds are ground nesters and annual breeders, however in the last few years they have been behaving as opportunistic breeders. During courtship, Nazca boobies display an interesting dance ritural that begins with the sky point. This display is performed by male Nazcas to indicate to potential females that they are available to mate.

The male Nazcas then wait for the females to show and perform the sky point too. In females however, this action will indicate that they want to be impressed by the males.

Once the two sides have agreed, males begin to offer gifts to the females. These gifts will be ignored at first, just as if the female would be saying: ‘I do not know you well enough yet’, however, soon she will accept the gift. As soon as that happens, it is only a matter of time for them to mate.

Mating does not last as long as courtship, it happens extremely quickly. The dance itself has the purpose of creating a little depression in the ground where the eggs will eventually be laid.

Nazca Booby Birds lay two eggs, several days apart from which only one chick survives due a practice called ‘obligatory sibling murdering’. In this process, one of the chicks displaces the other by taking most of the food, therefore growing faster. Once that has been achieved, the larger chick kicks the smallest and weakest chick out of the nest, leaving it to die of thirst or cold. The parent Nazca Booby Birds will not intervene and the younger chick will inevitably die.

It is believed that two eggs are laid so that one remains an insurance in case the other gets destroyed or eaten e.g. by gulls, or the chick dies soon after hatching.

In the last four to five years, Nazca booby birds have been nesting continuously. The reason for this seems to be that they are capable of varying their diet. Nazca Boobies are known for being pelagic in between the islands. This means that they fish some five to twenty miles off-shore. Traditionally, Nazca were eating some salemas (black striped snappers) and sardines, but ever since the last El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (1998), the oceanographic conditions are somehow different and the distribution of the fish has changed. Now it is common to have more flying fish replacing the salemas and sardines.

Nazca Booby Birds seem to have been very adaptable and that is why they are nesting non stop for the last four or five years.

More Fascinating Animals to Learn About

  • Galapagos Masked Booby Bird
  • Whimbrel birds
    Galapagos Whimbrel Birds
  • Galapagos Willet Bird
  • Galapagos Lava Gull Bird
  • Galapagos Rail Bird
  • Galapagos Flycatcher Bird
    Galapagos Flycatcher Bird

About Joanne Spencer

I've always been passionate about animals which led me to a career in training and behaviour. As an animal professional I'm committed to improving relationships between people and animals to bring them more happiness.

Animal Classification

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Suliformes
Family:Sulidae
Genus:Sula
Species:S. granti
Binomial name:Sula granti

Search

Most Popular Animals

  • Zebras
  • Aquatic Warbler
  • Atlantic Dolphins
  • Trapdoor Spider
  • Giraffe
  • Meerkats
  • Timber Wolf
  • Praying Mantis
  • Huntsman Spider
  • Vampire Bat

Animal Names Glossary

Animal Names

Mammals

anatomy

Dog Breeds

dog breeds

Farm Animals

Farm Animals

Best of the Blog

  • 21 Amazing Animals that live in Lakes
  • What are the Fastest Animals in the World?
  • 31 Animals with Funny Names and Weird Sounding Names: Humor in Nature
  • Top 15 Deadliest Animals in the World
  • Ophiophagy – Examples of animals that eat snakes
  • List of Fascinating Solitary Animals

Copyright © 2005-2023 · Animal Corner · All Rights Reserved · Affiliate Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Animals Sitemap . About Us

AnimalCorner.org is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.