page_title: Masked booby
section_title: Feeding
hierarchical_section_title: Masked booby / Behaviour / Feeding
caption_attribution_description: Atlantic flyingfish, Cheilopogon melanurus. Location: Atlantic Ocean off of Hatteras, North Carolina, United States.
context_page_description: The masked booby, 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 yellowish bill, long neck, aerodynamic body, long slender wings and pointed tail. The adult is bright white with black wings, a black tail and a dark face mask; at 75–85 cm long, it is the largest species of booby. The sexes have similar plumage. This species ranges across tropical oceans, except in the eastern Atlantic and eastern Pacific. In the latter, it is replaced by the Nazca booby, which was formerly regarded as a subspecies of masked booby.
  Nesting takes place in colonies, generally on islands and atolls far from the mainland and close to deep water required for foraging. Territorial when breeding, the masked booby performs agonistic displays to defend its nest. Potential and mated pairs engage in courtship and greeting displays. The female lays two chalky white eggs in a shallow depression on flat ground away from vegetation.
context_section_description: The masked booby is a spectacular diver, plunging vertically or near-vertically from heights of anywhere from 12 to 100 m (40 to 330 ft)—but more commonly 15 to 35 m (50 to 115 ft)—above the water into the ocean at high speed, to depths of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) in search of fish. It generally swallows its catch underwater. Fieldwork at Clipperton Island showed that masked boobies flew on average to 103 km (64 mi) from their colony, with a maximum range of 242 km (150 mi), while feeding their chicks. They did not rest at sea at night, though part of their return trip was at night time for longer expeditions. The masked booby forages with the white-bellied storm petrel (Fregetta grallaria) and Bulwer's petrel (Bulweria bulwerii) at times. Frigatebirds often harass the species until they disgorge their catch and steal their food.
  Fish, particularly flying fish, up to 28 cm (11 in) long (rarely up to 41 cm (16 in)) form the bulk of its diet, along with cephalopods. Species eaten include various species of flying fish such as blue flyingfish (Exocoetus volitans), mirrorwing flyingfish (Hirundichthys speculiger), sailfin flyingfish (Parexocoetus brachypterus), glider flyingfish (Cheilopogon atrisignis) and Atlantic flyingfish (Cheilopogon melanurus), other fish such as yellowtail amberjack (Seriola lalandi), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), mackerel scad (Decapterus macarellus), pompano dolphinfish (Coryphaena equiselis), mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), brown chub (Kyphosus bigibbus), redbarred hawkfish (Cirrhitops fasciatus), snake mackerel (Gempylus serpens), frigate tuna (Auxis thazard), Pacific saury (Cololabis saira), ribbon halfbeak (Euleptorhamphus viridis), flat needlefish (Ablennes hians) and mullet of the genus Mugil, and the purpleback flying squid (Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis).
caption: Flying fish, such as the Atlantic flyingfish, are a common prey item.
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