Cocos booby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cocos booby |
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| Nominate subspecies seen in Mexico | |
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Sula
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| Species: |
brewsteri
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The Cocos booby (Sula brewsteri) is a cool seabird that belongs to the booby family. It used to be thought of as a type of Brown booby. But in 2024, scientists decided it was different enough to be its own species. You can find these birds in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.
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About the Cocos Booby's Name
Scientists group living things based on how they are related. This is called taxonomy. The Cocos booby was first described in 1888. This was done by a scientist named Nathaniel Stickney Goss. He found these birds on San Pedro Mártir Island in the Gulf of California.
Goss named the bird Sula brewsteri after his friend, William Brewster. For many years, it was seen as a subspecies of the Brown booby. However, in 2024, a group of bird experts agreed it should be its own species.
The name was changed from "Brewster's booby" to "Cocos booby". This new name comes from Cocos Island in Costa Rica. This is a place where these birds often breed.
Types of Cocos Boobies
There are a few different types, or subspecies, of the Cocos booby. Scientists sometimes count two or three subspecies. They are:
- S. b. brewsteri (Goss, 1888) - These birds breed on islands in the Gulf of California. They also live off the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.
- S. b. etesiaca (Thayer & Bangs, 1905) - These boobies breed on islands in the Pacific Ocean. You can find them off Central America and Colombia.
- S. b. nesiotes (Heller & Snodgrass, 1901) - This type breeds on Clipperton Island.
What Cocos Boobies Look Like
The easiest way to tell a Cocos booby from a Brown booby is by its face. Male Cocos boobies have a white face. The amount of white can be different depending on the subspecies. Female Cocos boobies have a white forehead.
Differences in Males
Males of the nesiotes subspecies have the most white. Their whole head and neck are white. Males of the brewsteri subspecies have a white face and a light brown neck. The etesiaca subspecies males only have white on their foreheads.
Male Cocos boobies also have a grey beak. This is different from the yellow beak of male Brown boobies. Female Cocos boobies have a pinker beak than female Brown boobies.
How Cocos Boobies Behave
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Like other boobies, Cocos boobies are colonial breeders. This means they nest together in large groups on islands. When Cocos boobies meet Brown boobies, they usually do not breed together.
Scientists have watched them on Wake Island. They saw that male and female Cocos boobies usually stayed with each other. This happened even when there were many Brown boobies around. Sometimes, a female Cocos booby might not find a mate if only Brown boobies are present.
Very rarely, a Cocos booby and a Brown booby might have chicks together. This has been seen a few times. For example, it happened on Midway Atoll in 2020. It also happened on Nakanokamishima Island from 2012 to 2014.
Where Cocos Boobies Live
Cocos boobies are found in the East Pacific Ocean. They breed in countries like Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico. They also breed in French Overseas Territories, Colombia, and the United States.
You can also see them offshore of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Panama. In recent years, Cocos boobies have spread out. They are now found in the Central and West Pacific. They have even started breeding in Japan and Hawaii.
They are also now breeding in California. They first bred in the Channel Islands in 2017. You can now regularly find them as far north as Vancouver on the Pacific coast.
Large Breeding Spots
Some islands have very large groups of breeding Cocos boobies. These include Clipperton Island and San Pedro Mártir Island. Other important spots are Isla Espíritu Santo, Isla Isabel, and Islas Marietas.
They also breed on Socorro Island, Isla del Caño, and Gorgona Island. Of course, Cocos Island is a key breeding site. Recently, they have started breeding on Palmyra Atoll, Wake Island, Midway Atoll, and Moku Manu. These are all in the United States Minor Outlying Islands and Hawaii.
