Blue-Footed Booby - Introduction

Blue-Footed Booby - Introduction

Blue-Footed Booby - Introduction
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.62

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		despite, headlong, mid-air, plain-looking, tropical, resurface, male, fellow, glide, fold, flying, yards, along, fear, lack, bills
	content words:		In Spanish

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Blue-Footed Booby - Introduction

¹     "Bobo" is what Spanish settlers called this tropical seabird. In Spanish, the name means "stupid fellow." Which bird has such an unflattering name? Well, the blue-footed booby is the unfortunate one! While most birds fly away as soon as they detect danger, blue-footed boobies do not. Their lack of fear makes them an easy catch and is how they got their Spanish name.

²     We can find blue-footed boobies on the tropical islands of Galapagos and along the coastlines of the Gulf of California, Mexico, Ecuador, and Peru. About the size of a goose, the blue-footed booby is most famous for its feet. Indeed, with plain-looking feathers in brown and white, blue-footed boobies attract our attention with their bright blue feet. Male blue-footed boobies show off their blue feet when they are searching for a mate.

³     Despite its rather humiliating name, the blue-footed booby is anything but stupid when it goes out fishing. Blue-footed boobies glide in the sky with their bills facing downward. As soon as they spot a fish, they fold their wings close to their bodies and take a headlong dive. They are known to dive from as high up as 80 feet and to resurface yards away with fish in their beaks. Even when blue-footed boobies are swimming, they can still dive to catch fish. Most amazingly, blue-footed boobies can catch flying fish in mid-air!

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