Blue & Red Footed Boobies (Galapagos Islands) (1 Viewer)

[Robert11]

Hi,

I posted this in the Seabird forum, but surprisingly nobody replied.
As my kid is really after me with an explanation, I thought I'd take the liberty of posting it again here. Can't believe that one of the experts out there in this really Great Forum isn't familiar with this.

Regarding the Blue Footed Boobies and the Red Footed Boobies found in the Galapagos Islands off of Ecuador:

I saw a picture the other day for both of these birds, and they both had a blue bill/head. Very unusual picture, as I've never seen any with coloration other than on the feet.

The ones I am familiar with only have blue, or red for the red footed species, coloration for the feet. Neither had any color for the bill or head areas.

All the pictures you see for these birds, except the one I recently came across, always showed sort of a grey bill/head.

Are these with blue bills/heads a sub species, juvenilles, or... ?

Thanks,
Bob
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[njlarsen]

Our Opus page for red-foot has a picture of a bluish bill. However, cameras differ in how they will white-balance, and what one recounts as grey will look blue with another.

Niels

 

[Chlidonias]

where is the picture you saw of the birds with the blue head (website etc?)