Booby (Masked)

 

A large seabird of tropical oceans, the Masked Booby is only a rare visitor to North America. It has attempted to breed in the Dry Tortugas in Florida, but it is most frequently encountered at sea in the Gulf of Mexico or off the southern Atlantic states.

The masked booby is the largest of the booby family. It is a little under three feet in length and its wingspan is a little over five feet. It has a white body; brownish-black wings and tail and a long, pointed orange-yellow bill. It has a black mask around its eyes and bill and large, gray webbed feet.




Photographed at sea St Maarten