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What Does a Red-Footed Booby Bird Eat?

Red-footed boobies are a species of tropical seabird in the Sulidae family. As their colorful name suggests, red-footed boobies can be spotted by their red webbed feet, although the color of their feathers varies. They create their large stick nests in colonies near the sea and like to perch on coastal trees, and the ocean is the source of their food.

Diet
- Red-footed boobies are carnivores. Since red-footed boobies are the smallest of the booby bird family, their diet is made up of appropriately sized prey, such as small fish and squid. The agility of the red-footed booby also allows it to make a meal of flying fish, which the booby can snatch out of the air.
Digestion
- Like almost all birds, red-footed boobies have no teeth. Their long beaks help them scoop up their prey with precision, which they then swallow immediately rather than transport, as some other seabirds do.
Feeding Frequency
- Red-footed boobies may feed at any time during the day and at night. They have sharp eyesight and can spot schools of small fish near the water's surface from great heights during the day, and at night the glowing phosphorescence of species of small squid help them spot their midnight snacks. Because it is almost constantly active, the red-footed booby needs as many calories as it can consume, as it expends the energy nesting, reproducing and searching for the next meal.
Feeding Habits
- Red-footed boobies feed in a spectacular fashion. They are expert divers and snatch their food from the ocean by diving into the water at extraordinary speeds, then skimming prey that clusters in groups near the surface by grasping it in their long bills. Red-footed boobies will feed whenever they are away from the bird colony, as they spend much of their time out at sea when not taking care of young, mating or nesting. The red-footed booby also hunts in large groups instead of alone.

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