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The masked booby (Sula dactylatra), also called the masked gannet or the blue-faced booby, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson in 1831, the masked booby is one of six species of booby in the genus Sula. It has a typical sulid body shape, with a long pointed ...
The name is derived from súla, the Old Norse and Icelandic word for the other member of the family Sulidae, the gannet. [ 5 ] The English name booby was possibly based on the Spanish slang term bobo , meaning "stupid", [ 6 ] as these tame birds had a habit of landing on board sailing ships, where they were easily captured and eaten.
The great skua (Stercorarius skua), sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is roughly the size of a herring gull . It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken from other birds.
The diet of red-footed boobies consists mostly of fish (such as Exocoetidae flying fish and Gempylidae escolars) and squid. [17] Studies of the red-footed booby on Christmas Island have found that most fish eaten are 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) long, with a maximum length of 20 cm (7.9 in), and most squid are 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in), with a ...
Gannets can achieve speeds of 100 km/h (62.13 mph) as they strike the water, enabling them to catch fish at a much greater depth than most airborne birds. [5] The gannet's supposed capacity for eating large quantities of fish has led to "gannet" becoming a description of somebody with a voracious appetite. [6]
Also defined: seabird colony; breeding colony; communal roost; heronries; rookery. A large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony.
The Australasian gannet (Morus serrator), also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae.Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailing edge of the wing.
The southern royal albatross or toroa, (Diomedea epomophora) is a large seabird from the albatross family.At an average wingspan of above 3 m (9.8 ft), it is one of the two largest species of albatross, together with the wandering albatross.