When Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835, he was greeted by an assortment of wildlife unlike anything he’d seen before. He saw giant tortoises, odd-looking iguanas, and several new varieties of finches. These critters helped him develop his idea that life adapts to survive in different environments.
The blue-footed booby. Credit: WikipediaOne of the silliest creatures that Darwin saw was a marine bird that’s ungainly on land, but a precision diver at sea.
The blue-footed booby ranges from southern Mexico to Peru, but it’s most common on the Galapagos Islands. It’s one of three species of boobies found on the islands. Their name comes from a Spanish word that means “stupid” or “foolish.” The birds are awkward on land, and early explorers could walk right up to them without the birds scattering.
The blue-footed booby also goes through a comical mating dance. A male struts past an interested female, showing off its big blue feet -- the bluer the better. If the female is interested they fly around for a while. When they land the male shows off his feet again, then they crane their necks back and let out a mating call.
At sea, though, a blue-foot is graceful. It skims low over the waves looking for prey. When it spots something, it folds back its wings and dives in like a torpedo. The birds have even been spotted snatching flying fish from the air. And they sometimes hunt in groups, with one bird whistling to the others when it spots a school of fish.
The blue-footed booby -- just one of the odd creatures found on these remote Pacific islands.
