I go out dancing regularly in my life. I put on some of my cutest, sexiest clothes, slip on a nice pair of dance shoes, do my hair, might even put on a little make-up. I even know the steps to several dances, such as the step, touch, step, step pattern of Zydeco; the slow, quick, quick feel of a Waltz; the 1,2, 3&4, 5, 6, 7&8 count of a Salsa.
And there is even the step, step, step, step rhythm of the Merengue. It is this dance that seemed to be the best to describe the mating dance of the Blue-Booted Boobies.
Wait, what?, you might now be asking yourself? The Blue-Footed what? Mating dance? Merengue? How does that all relate?
step right…step left…step right…step left…step right…
Well, really, I’m not sure. All I know is that when I was in the Galapagos Islands, and I saw a strange bird lifting one of its blue feet up, and lowering it, and then lifting the other blue foot up, and lowering it, and repeating this pattern over and over and over, all I could relate it to was some of the dancing that I have done. Now mind you, however, that when the Blue-Footed Booby was on the dance floor, his step, step pattern was much slower, and definitely clumsier, than the upbeat, sexy Latin dance.
turquoise feet
The Blue-Footed Booby is an interesting bird to say the least. It is known for its silly behavior and its even sillier looks. Yes, the feet are indeed blue. Well, not a royal blue, nor a navy blue, but more like an aquamarine or turquoise, really. And, apparently, to attract a female, the bluer the feet the male has, the better. Oh, and their beaks are grayish-bluish in color, and their eyes look a bit cross-eyed if you look at them straight on.
cross-eyed
Even the bird’s silly name comes from a word meaning “clown.†Long ago, the Spaniards once called them “bobo,†which can also be translated as clumsy and silly. I want to add that I thought that these birds were also endearing, unique, intriguing, and well, yes, funny.
the mating ritual
As part of the mating ritual, the male Blue-Footed Booby not only dances, but he also prunes his feathers (much like me putting on makeup, I suppose), puffs out his wings (maybe like me doing my hair), and of course he displays his blue feet (I usually wear black shoes, however). And hopefully, the female Booby will join the male in the dance. (Note that I don’t go dancing as a mating ritual, so please don’t get the wrong idea about me.)
a blue-footed booby
Another seemingly silly behavior that the Blue-Footed Booby does is demonstrated in the location that they lay and incubate their eggs. Not in an elaborate nest made of leaves or twigs; not high up on a tree branch, or in the hollow of a tree trunk; not even laying on some soft feathers, shells or other vegetation. But the Blue-Footed Booby lays their eggs in a shallow groove on the bare ground. Yes, the bare ground. There is something nice to be said about simplicity, I suppose.
napping blue-footed boobies
And to make matters even more interesting, surrounding some of these nests, there is a circular white ring. At first, I thought it was feathers. Or then I thought maybe it was sand or shells. But, nope, the white ring wasn’t any of those. Apparently, the female, as she protects her eggs from the heat, rotates around with the sun. And well, she doesn’t get up to take bathroom breaks, either. Nope, she just goes right there, and so the circular white ring is well…I think you get the idea.
circular white ring around nest
My next blog continues with more on the silly Blue-Footed Boobies.
Sweet Travels!
All photos by Debby