Peruvian Booby

Identificazione

The Peruvian booby has brown upperparts, and white underparts, as well as a white head. There is noticeable white mottling on the upper side of the wings. Their wing-coverts are tipped white, creating a scale-like pattern. They have a long, pointed, grey bill. Their feet are webbed and also grey; as opposed to the characteristic colouring of the blue-footed and red-footed boobiesFemale boobies tend to be larger than their male counterparts: their bodies an average of 19% heavier, and their wings 4% larger.

Tassonomia

The Peruvian booby is within the genus Sula. It shares this genus with other boobies, including the blue-footed booby, the red-footed booby, the brown booby, the masked booby, and the Nazca booby.<p>There are no subspecies of Peruvian booby, but some members of the species have been seen to hybridize with blue-footed boobies.

Nome scientifico

Sula variegata

Autorità

(Tschudi, 1843)

Ordine

Suliformi

Famiglia

Sulidae

Genere

Sula

Areale e habitat

The Peruvian booby is confined to the waters of the Humboldt current, off the coast of South America. They can be found off the shores of Peru, south to the middle part of Chile. Their abundance on the islands of Lobos de Tierra and Lobos de Afuera have resulted in a great deal of research being done on the species from these locations.<p>Their colonies nest on smooth, windswept sand flats that allow their nests to stay between a temperature range of approximately 28 °C to 38 °C. These salt flats, or pampas, allow for a fairly high density of booby nests.

Areale riproduttivo

SA : coastal n Peru to c Chile

Areale non riproduttivo

to coastal Ecuador

Migrazione

Specie stanziale

Comportamento

Comportamento migratorio: Specie stanziale.

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione: stabile.

Tendenza della popolazione

stabile