Guide to North American Birds

One of the largest seabirds of the North Atlantic, the gannet is spectacular as it plunges into the sea in pursuit of fish. With a spear-like bill and spiky tail, it looks 'pointed at both ends.' Nesting colonies are on northern sea cliffs; one at Bonaventure Island, Quebec, has become a famous tourist destination. In winter off southern coastlines, the gleaming white adults may be outnumbered by brown and patchy immatures; it takes four years for gannets to attain full adult plumage.

Often shown in documentaries about the Galapagos, where pairs bow and shuffle and show off their blue feet, the Blue-footed Booby also nests as far north as western Mexico. In some years, small numbers stray north into the southwestern United States, mainly to the Salton Sea, California.

Tropical seas around the world are home to this large, long-winged, strong-flying seabird. In North America it is seen most often near the Dry Tortugas, Florida, where it perches in trees or on navigational markers. It may have nested on the Florida Keys in the past, but the only United States nesting sites today are in Hawaii.

Found in tropical seas around the world, this long-winged seabird is only a very rare visitor to North America. Most records are from Florida, especially around the islands of the Dry Tortugas, but the species has also been found off the California coast.

Widespread in tropical oceans, this large, long-winged seabird occurs regularly off our southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts; it is also common in Hawaii, mainly in the northwestern chain. Known as a visitor to the Dry Tortugas, Florida, for many years, the Masked Booby did not actually begin to nest there until the 1980s.