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.


Searchable keywords

Find the right images by checking multiple keywords below:

  • America
  • Atlantic
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Aves
  • Brasil
  • Brazil
  • Masked Booby
  • Masked booby (Sula dactylatra)
  • South America
  • South American
  • South Atlantic
  • South Atlantic Ocean
  • Sula dactylatra
  • Sulidae
  • Tropical South Atlantic Ocean
  • animal
  • bird
  • bon fish
  • booby
  • cold blooded
  • fish
  • fish eater
  • flight
  • fly
  • flying fish
  • marine bird
  • piscivore
  • plunge
  • plunge dive
  • seabird
  • soar
  • vertical

Image ID: 0113231-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: 3603x5400

Add to Lightbox Download Image
License image
Buy art prints