Sula sula
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) and Larry Loos (photography) · PhyloPic
The red-footed booby (Sula sula) is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, harnessing the wind to fly efficiently, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They forage by catching flying fish from above the ocean's surface and by performing shallow dives. They are found widely in the tropics, and breed colonially in coastal regions, especially isolated islands such as St. Brandon, Mauritius (Cargados Carajos shoals), and the Chagos Archipelago. Although its population is declining, it is considered to be a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It faces threats from climate change, competition with fisheries, human disturbance, and invasive species.
The red-footed booby was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766, in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae. He gave it the binomial name Pelecanus sula and described it based on a specimen from Barbados. The present genus Sula was introduced by the French scientist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The word Sula is Norwegian for a gannet... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isla del Coco National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Machalilla National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 4 | Main Ridge Forest Reserve | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 5 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 11 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honolulu Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Very likely
Over 90% of wildlife watchers report a Red-footed Booby sighting in Isla del Coco National Park on a given day, based on 509 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 69 birds we can rate there.
April, June and September–December
In those months over 90% of wildlife watchers report a Red-footed Booby in Isla del Coco National Park on a given day, against about 50% in February, the lowest month. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-footed Booby sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Red-footed Booby sightings, Isla del Coco National Park has the highest daily chance: over 90%. Next come Machalilla National Park (Ecuador, about 20%) and Galápagos Islands (Ecuador, about 10%).
Same genus: Sula
The closest relatives of the Red-footed Booby that you can see in Isla del Coco National Park (genus Sula, Typical Boobies) are Masked Booby (about 40%) and Nazca Booby (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-footed Booby is recorded against all the birds logged in Isla del Coco National Park (509 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
