- Sula dactylatra
Identification
Length: 81 cm (32 in); width: 158 cm (62 in) White body, black tail, and black on wings, yellow to olive feet, yellow bill with black facial skin producing the mask. Underside is white with black fligth feathers and a dark bar in the middle of the underwing coverts. Bill is dusky and feet are greyish.
Distribution
A rare and local year round resident in the West Indies with a total breeding population estimated to between 500 and 1700 pairs. In the Caribbean, known breeding areas are southern Bahamas (probably not the last 100 years), Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua, and among the Grenadines; very rare elsewhere in the West Indies.
Taxonomy
The nominate race (Sula dactylatra dactylatra) is found in the Caribbean and the south-west Atlantic Ocean. Subspecies melanops is found in the western Indian Ocean, personata in the central and western Pacific, and fullagari in the northern Tasman Sea. In the far south/central east it is replaced with the closely related Nazca Booby (Sula granti).
Previously, the Nazca Booby (Sula granti) was considered a race of the Masked Booby.
Habitat
Pelagic.
Behaviour
Diet includes fish.
It nests on cliff ledges and 2 eggs are laid.
