{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Middle Quaternary to recent<ref>{{cite web |title=Sula leucogaster Boddaert 1783 (brown booby) |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=335262 |website=PBDB}}</ref> | image = Atobá-pardo.jpg | image_caption = Male ''S. l. leucogaster'', Fernando de Noronha, tropical western Atlantic | image2 = Brown booby (Sula leucogaster leucogaster) Principe 3.jpg | image2_caption = Female ''S. l. leucogaster'', Príncipe island, São Tomé and Príncipe | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Sula leucogaster'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T22696698A132590197 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22696698A132590197.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Sula | species = leucogaster | authority = (Boddaert, 1783) | range_map = Sula brewsteri & Sula leucogaster, verspreidingskaart met subspp, a.png | range_map_caption = World range,<ref name="ph"/> with Brown booby subspecies in pink and purple:{{leftlegend|#ED1C24|''S. b. brewsteri''|outline=grey}}{{leftlegend|#FF7F27|''S. b. etesiaca''|outline=grey}}{{leftlegend|#FFAEC9|''S. l. leucogaster''|outline=grey}}{{leftlegend|#C8BFE7|''S. l. plotus''|outline=grey}} }}
The '''brown booby''' ('''''Sula leucogaster''''') is a large seabird in the booby and gannet family Sulidae, of which it is one of the most common and widespread species.<ref name="ph">{{cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=Peter |title=Seabirds: An Identification Guide |url=https://archive.org/details/seabirdsidentifi00harr |url-access=registration |date=1985 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0-395-60291-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/seabirdsidentifi00harr/page/292 292] |edition=revised}}</ref> It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brown booby commutes and forages at low height over inshore waters. Flocks plunge-dive to take small fish, especially when these are driven near the surface by their predators. They nest only on the ground, and roost on solid objects rather than the water surface.<ref name="ph"/>
== Taxonomy == The brown booby was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' in 1781.<ref>{{cite book |last=Buffon |first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de |author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon |year=1781 |title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux |volume=16 |place=Paris |publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale |page=142 |chapter=Le Petit Fou |language=fr |chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42296387}}</ref> The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buffon |first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de |author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon |last2=Martinet |first2=François-Nicolas |author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet |last3=Daubenton |first3=Edme-Louis |author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton |last4=Daubenton |first4=Louis-Jean-Marie |author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton |year=1765–1783 |chapter=Fou de Cayenne |title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle |volume=10 |place=Paris |publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale |at=Plate 973 |chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35223691}}</ref> Buffon did not include a scientific name with his description but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name ''Pelecanus leucogaster'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Boddaert |first=Pieter |author-link=Pieter Boddaert |year=1783 |title=Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton: avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés |place=Utrecht |page=57, Number 973 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27822677 |language=fr}}</ref> The type locality is Cayenne in French Guiana.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Mayr |editor1-first=Ernst |editor1-link=Ernst Mayr |editor2-last=Cottrell |editor2-first=G. William |year=1979 |title=Check-list of Birds of the World |volume=1 |edition=2nd |publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology |place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=186 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108826}}</ref> The current genus ''Sula'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brisson |first=Mathurin Jacques |author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson |year=1760 |title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés |language=fr, la |place=Paris |publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010460 Vol. 1, p. 60],[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36211468 Vol. 6 p. 494]}}</ref> The word ''Sula'' is Norwegian for a gannet; the specific ''leucogaster'' is from Ancient Greek ''leuko'' for "white" and ''gastēr'' for "belly".<ref>{{cite book |last=Jobling |first=James A. |year=2010 |title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling |publisher=Christopher Helm |location=London |isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n223 223], 373}}</ref>
There are two recognised subspecies:<ref name="ioc">{{cite web | title=Storks, frigatebirds, boobies, darters, cormorants – IOC World Bird List | website=worldbirdnames.org | date=2025-02-20 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/storks/ | access-date=2025-11-03}}</ref> * ''S. l. leucogaster'' <small>(Boddaert, 1783)</small> – Caribbean and Atlantic Islands * ''S. l. plotus'' <small>(Forster, JR, 1844)</small> – Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to the west and central Pacific<ref name="Redman Stevenson Fanshawe 2016">{{cite book |last1=Redman |first1=Nigel |last2=Stevenson |first2=Terry |last3=Fanshawe |first3=John |title=Birds of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Socotra – Revised and Expanded Edition |series=Princeton Field Guides |publisher=Princeton University Press | location=Princeton, New Jersey |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-691-17289-7 |oclc=944380248 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOs9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |page=44 |access-date=2018-12-13}}</ref>
In 2024, two other formerly accepted subspecies, ''S. l. brewsteri'' and ''S. l. etesiaca'', were split out as a separate species Cocos booby ''Sula brewsteri'' by the American Ornithological Society, Clements Checklist, and the IOC World Bird List.<ref name="ioc"/> <gallery mode = packed heights = 150px> Brown boobytern.JPG|male ''S. l. plotus'', French Frigate Shoals Weißbauchtoelpel.jpg|female ''S. l. plotus'', Green Island, Queensland 6A5A3225.jpg|male ''S. l. plotus'', Queensland Brown booby (Sula leucogaster plotus) female in flight Michaelmas Cay.jpg|female ''S. l. plotus'', Queensland </gallery>
== Description == The booby's head and upper body (back) is covered in dark brown to blackish plumage, with the remainder (belly) being a contrasting white. The bare-part colours vary geographically, but not seasonally.<ref name="ph" /> The species also displays sexual dimorphism of the bare part colours, the males having a blue orbital ring, as opposed to the yellow orbital ring of the female.
Female boobies reach about {{convert|80|cm}} in length; their wingspans measure up to {{convert|150|cm|ft|abbr=on}}, and they can weigh up to {{convert|1300|g|lb|abbr=on}}. Male boobies reach about {{convert|75|cm}} in length; their wingspans measure up to {{convert|140|cm|ft|abbr=on}}, and they can weigh up to {{convert|1000|g|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name="ospina-alvarez">{{ cite journal | last=Ospina-Alvarez | first=A. | year=2008 | title=Coloniality of brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') in Gorgona National Natural Park, Eastern Tropical Pacific | journal=Onitología Neotropical | volume=19 | pages=517–529 | url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/ON%20%2819%29%20517-530.pdf }}</ref>{{Clarify|date=November 2025|reason=this citation likely refers to the subsequently split Cocos booby}}
Unlike other species of sulid, the juvenile plumage already resembles that of the adult.<ref name="ph" /> They are grey-brown with darkening on the head, upper surfaces of the wings and tail, while the lower breast and underpart plumages are heavily flecked brown on white.<ref name="ph" />
Their beaks are quite sharp and contain jagged edges. They have fairly short wings resulting in a fast flap rate, but long, tapered tails. While these birds are typically silent, they occasionally make grunting or quacking sounds. <gallery mode = packed heights = 120px> Brown booby (Sula leucogaster plotus) pair Michaelmas Cay.jpg|Female and male ''S. l. plotus'' at their stick nest Sula leucogaster MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.45.7.jpg|eggs - MHNT Atobá com filho no ninho no Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo.jpg|Male with chick in São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago, Pernambuco, Brazil Brown booby (Sula leucogaster plotus) female and juvenile male on nest Michaelmas Cay.jpg|feeding ''S. l. plotus'' chick Brown booby (Sula leucogaster leucogaster) juvenile Principe.jpg|Juvenile ''S. l. leucogaster'', São Tomé and Príncipe </gallery>
== Ecology == This species breeds on islands and coasts in the pantropical areas of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. They frequent the breeding grounds of the islands in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. With the rise in pollution in the world, brown boobies have been using marine debris to make their nests, with 90.1% of these nest were consisted of plastic, while nests near shipwreck have a high percentage of the wreckage debris.<ref>{{cite journal| last1= Grant | first1=L.M. | last2=Lavers | first2= J.L. | last3=Stuckenbrock | first3=S. | last4=Sharp | first4=B.P. | last5=Bond | first5=A.L.| year=2018 | title=The use of anthropogenic marine debris as a nesting material by brown boobies (''Sula leucogaster'') | journal=Marine Pollution Bulletin | volume= 137 | pages=96–103 | doi=10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.10.016 | pmid=30503494 | bibcode=2018MarPB.137...96G | hdl=10141/622420 | s2cid=54507773 | hdl-access=free }}</ref> This bird nests in large colonies, laying two chalky blue eggs on the ground in a mound of broken shells and vegetation, but usually raises just one chick, the second one to hatch being unable to compete for food with its older sibling, or even ejected from the nest by it.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dorward | first=D.F. | year=1962 |title=Comparative biology of the white booby and the brown booby ''Sula'' spp. at Ascension | journal=Ibis | volume=103B |issue=2 |pages=174–220 | doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1962.tb07244.x}}</ref> It winters at sea over a wider area.
Brown booby pairs may remain together over several seasons. They perform elaborate greeting rituals, and are also spectacular divers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They eat mainly small fish (such as flying fish, mullets, halfbeaks, anchovies,<ref name="sta.uwi.edu">{{Cite web |last=Hailey |first=A. |title=Sula leucogaster (Brown Booby) |url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Sula_leucogaster%20-%20Brown%20Booby.pdf |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=UWI St. Augustine}}</ref> goatfish, crowned squirrelfish, and Indian mackerels<ref name="animaldiversity.org">{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sula_leucogaster/ | title=Sula leucogaster (Brown booby) | website=Animal Diversity Web }}</ref>), squids (including the family Ommastrephidae),<ref name="animaldiversity.org"/> or shrimps<ref name="sta.uwi.edu"/> which gather in groups near the surface and may catch leaping fish while skimming the surface. Along with plunge-diving, some fledglings and adults practice kleptoparasitism, where they steal prey from other seabirds. Brown boobies have even been observed stealing prey from the normally even more piratical great frigatebirds as they transfer food to their young.<ref name="animaldiversity.org"/> Although they are powerful and agile fliers, they are particularly clumsy in takeoffs and landings; they use strong winds and high perches to assist their takeoffs.
===Vagrancy=== As a result of global warming, the brown booby has increasingly been moving further north into seas formerly too cold for it. The first record in Great Britain was in 2019, with by 2024 a further 15 subsequent records, including six in 2023 and three in 2024; one even reached 59°21'N at North Ronaldsay in Orkney.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=French |first1=Paul R. |last2=Holden |first2=Andrew |last3=Rarities Committee |title=Report on rare birds in Great Britain |journal=British Birds |date=2025 |volume=118 |issue=10 |page=526}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}} <!-- AnimalBehavior51:273,1197;68:1331. BullBOC101:339. Caldasia27:271. Condor58:107. Micronesica37:69. --> * {{cite book |title=Seabirds of the World |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |first=Peter |last=Harrison |year=1996 |isbn=0-691-01551-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/seabirdsofworldp00harr }} * {{cite book |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |first1=John |last1=Bull |first2=John Jr |last2=Farrand |year=1984 |isbn=0-394-41405-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/audubonsocietyfi0000bull }}
== Further reading == * {{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Rory M. |year=1990 |chapter=''Sula leucogaster'' Brown Booby |editor1-last=Marchant |editor1-first=S. |editor2-last=Higgins |editor2-first=P.G. |title=Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Volume 1: Ratites to ducks; Part B, Australian pelican to ducks |place=Melbourne, Victoria |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-553068-1 |pages=781–790 |chapter-url=http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/126_Brown%20Booby.pdf |access-date=2017-11-05 |archive-date=2019-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507192447/http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/126_Brown%20Booby.pdf }}
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Sula leucogaster}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Sula leucogaster}} * [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/brown-booby-sula-leucogaster Brown booby videos, photos & sounds] on the Internet Bird Collection
{{Suliformes}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q320193}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Boobies Category:Birds of the Atlantic Ocean Category:Birds of Australia Category:Birds of Brazil Category:Birds of Cape Verde Category:Birds of the Caribbean Category:Birds of the Dominican Republic Category:Birds of the Indian Ocean Category:Birds of the Pacific Ocean Category:Birds of the Gulf of Guinea Category:Birds of Ascension Island Brown booby Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Fauna of the Pantropical realm Brown booby