Blue-footed Booby

How to find it

Puntarenas is described as the most reliable spot in Costa Rica for seabirds that stray in. Birders scan the Gulf of Nicoya from the tip of the lighthouse. The Guayabo Islands lie near Isla San Lucas and can be passed on the ferry across the gulf. Birders also reach Isla Guayabos by small boat from the Puntarenas side, and the boats get close enough to the rock to see blue feet and hear calls. Boat tours and wildlife cruises along the Pacific coast are a good way to see the species.

How to recognise it

The blue feet are the standout mark, and everything else follows from them. Their colour ranges from pale turquoise to deep aquamarine. Males and young birds have paler feet than females.

The rest of the checklist is short:

- Upperparts brown, with a white rump and a black tail.

- Underparts white.

- Eyes yellow.

- Wings long and pointed.

These details describe the species across its whole range. Adults there are about 81 cm long, and females are larger than males.

In Costa Rica, birders separate it from a Brown Booby by its paler, dusky head and white tail. The Brown Booby is darker overall.

Behaviour and diet

The Blue-footed Booby plunge-dives for fish such as sardines and anchovies, and birds often hunt in groups. That is how the species behaves across its range.

In the Gulf of Nicoya, birders watched Blue-footed Boobies come flying in from the inner gulf toward their boat. At the Guayabo colony, many birds moved back and forth to the rock, and about a hundred were counted from a small boat.

Where it lives

Across its range, the Blue-footed Booby lives on arid islands and coasts of the eastern Pacific, from Baja California south to Peru.

In Costa Rica it is a bird of the Pacific coast and its waters. It has been confirmed at Manuel Antonio, in the Quepos canton of Puntarenas, and it is seen at the rocky Guayabo Islands and near Isla San Lucas in the Gulf of Nicoya. Small populations or vagrants of the species are also listed for Cocos Island, which belongs to Costa Rica.

When to see it

A Costa Rican nature magazine says boobies can be seen here at certain times of year from the Pacific coast or the Puntarenas to Tambor ferry, though it gives no months. Large counts in the Gulf of Nicoya came in 2023, an El Niño year with warmer than usual Pacific water.

Similar birds

Check feet and plumage carefully, because the Blue-footed Booby is photographed alongside the Peruvian Booby on the Puntarenas coast. A Peruvian Booby looked black and white with a bright white head and dark back. A Brown Booby is darker overall, while the Blue-footed shows a dusky head and white tail even at distance.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Besides Piquero Patiazul, the species is also called piquero camanay, alcatraz patiazul and pájaro bobo in Spanish. These names come from a general Spanish-language source, not one specific to Costa Rica.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as M and it is described as uncommon in Costa Rica, while globally the IUCN rates it Least Concern.

Photography tips

Small boats from the Puntarenas side get close enough to the rock at Isla Guayabos to see blue feet and hear calls. Boobies flying in from the inner gulf toward a boat make good moving subjects, and the feet show best when birds are close to the rock.