Sula leucogaster
Silhouette: Jon Hill (Photo by Benjamint444: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-footed-booby.jpg) · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
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. 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.
The brown booby was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1781. 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. 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. The type locality is Cayenne in French Guiana.
The current genus Sula was introduced by the French... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Jaragua National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 3 | Main Ridge Forest Reserve | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 4 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 7 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Komodo National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 9 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 11 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 12 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 13 | Cahuita National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 14 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 15 | Los Haitises National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 16 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 17 | Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 18 | Celestún Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 19 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 20 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Vitória | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Padang | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Jeddah | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 6 | Santos | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Niterói | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 10 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sea World | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Honolulu Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Zooparque Itatiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Booby sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 258th most-seen of the 279 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Booby in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown 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.
20th of 20
Of the 20 parks where we can rate Brown Booby sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 20th at under 5%. The best odds are in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 20%), Jaragua National Park (Dominican Republic, about 10%) and Main Ridge Forest Reserve (Trinidad and Tobago, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Booby is recorded against all the birds logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (14 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.
