Brown Booby

Scientific Name: Sula leucogaster
Malay Name: Angsa-Laut Biasa
Chinese Name: 褐鲣鸟

Range:
Found from tropical and subtropical Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and wanders widely outside breeding seasons to Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia

Taxonomy:
Polytypic. Subspecies are: leucogaster, brewsteri, etesiaca, plotus.

Local Subspecies: plotus

Size: 73-83 cm

Identification:
Adult has distinctive dark chocolate-brown plumage with contrasting white lower breast to vent and mostly white underwing-coverts. Female is slight larger than male. Juvenile has somewhat paler brown plumage and washed dusky-brownish lower breast.

Similar looking species: Red-footed Booby

Habitat: Open seas and sometimes coastal waters.

Behaviour/Ecology: More regularly sighted over shallow inshore waters than other Booby species.

Local Status: Very rare non-breeding visitor

Conservation Status: Least Concern (BirdLife International 2018)

Past accepted records in our database:

Past records, bar chart (see more bar charts):

Photos:

Brown Booby at Dampier Peninsula, Kimberley, Western Australia. Photo Credit: Eric Tan

Brown Booby at Dampier Peninsula, Kimberley, Western Australia. Photo Credit: Eric Tan

Subadult Brown Booby at Straits of Johor. Photo credits: See Toh Yew Wai

Subadult Brown Booby at Straits of Johor. Photo credits: See Toh Yew Wai

Subadult Brown Booby at Straits of Johor. Photo credits: See Toh Yew Wai

Brown Booby at Bonin Islands, Japan. Photo credit: Keita Sin

External Links:
Conservation Status: IUCN Red List Page
Photos: Oriental Bird Images
Sound Recordings: xeno-canto Link
Wikipedia Entry: Wikipedia Link
eBird Species page: eBird (Brown Booby)

References:
BirdLife International. (2018). Sula leucogaster. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22696698A132590197.en. Accessed on 19 December 2021

Robson, C. (2014). Field guide to the birds of South-East Asia (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing, London.