An adult masked booby (Sula dactylatra) following the National Geographic Endeavour in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil. This bird has an ingeneous hunting tactic: to glide near the bow and wait until the forward progress of the ship forces flying fish to try and avoid the ship by flying, the booby then dives after the fish attempting to escape! This is the largest booby, at 91 cm (3 ft) length, 152 cm wingspan (5 ft) and 1500 g (3.3 lbs) weight. Masked Boobies are spectacular divers, plunging diagonally into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat small fish, including flying fish.


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Image ID: 0113228-MNO.jpg

An adult masked booby (Sula dactylatra) following the National Geographic Endeavour in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil. This bird has an ingeneous hunting tactic: to glide near the bow and wait until the forward progress of the ship forces flying fish to try and avoid the ship by flying, the booby then dives after the fish attempting to escape! This is the largest booby, at 91 cm (3 ft) length, 152 cm wingspan (5 ft) and 1500 g (3.3 lbs) weight. Masked Boobies are spectacular divers, plunging diagonally into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat small fish, including flying fish.
Credit to: Blue Planet Archive / Michael S. Nolan

Image dimensions: 5400x3599

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