Blue-Faced Booby or masked booby (Sula dactylatra) is found widely in the south Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Although not common in the waters of the United States, it is sometimes found in the Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys. The immature has a brown head and neck. The 33-34 inch adult has a white head, neck, and breast. However, there is a black area at the front of the face from the eyes to the bill. The wings are black and white.

There are 6 subspecies. The nominate subspecies is found from the Bahamas south into the Caribbean and south to Ascension Island. The subspecies melanops is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean and further north east into the Red Sea. The subspecies bedouti is found in the southern and Indian Ocean from Christmas Island and the Sundas to western Australia. The subspecies fullagari is found near islands in the vicinity of Australia including Norfolk and Lord Howe. The subspecies fullagari is found from north eastern Australia in the Coral Sea north to the Philippines and east to Micronesia and the Polynesian Islands. The subspecies californica is found on islands near western Mexico.

This bird was listed in the American Bird Conservancy Guide in 2010 with a population estimate of about 200,000 birds. Feral pigs are a problem on Clipperton. Many colonies are now protected.

Guy Dutson in his Field Guide to the birds of Melanesia notes this is rare at sea. He also notes this lifeform flies high over oceans and is generally seen far offshore.

The boobies genus (Sula) are found in all tropical oceans of the world. There are 5 species in the genus. These generally are large brown or black and white sea birds. They have fully webbed feet with very little sexual polymorphism. Their tails are generally pointed.

The masked is 32 inches in length and the brown is 28 inches long. The Peruvian is 30 inches, and the blue footed is 32 inches. The red foot is 28 inches. These birds can fly at rather high heights and then dive to the ocean. All species have rather large heavy bills.

Boobies and Gannets (Family Sulidae) are a group of nine species of large-sized sea birds. The Gannets are found primarily in the northern oceans and the Sulas are of the tropical seas. These birds typically dive from the air to chase their fish underwater.

Pelicans and Allies (Order Pelecaniformes) contains six different families of marine birds. Most are large species and most feed on fish. One distinguishing feature of this order is the webbing that connects all four toes.

Aves contains about 8,650 different species of living birds known to science. Each year about one new species is discovered in some remote rain forest or remote island. In addition, scientists have been raising many subspecies to full species status which may raise the species count to 10,000. Birdlife recognizes 10,027 species as of 2011.

However, each year about one species goes extinct. The rate of extinction is increasing, and the rate of new discovery is decreasing, so that the number of bird species will soon begin to decline rapidly. Although different taxonomists would organize the birds differently, there are approximately twenty-seven orders of birds. These orders are broken down into about one hundred and fifty-five different families.

Recent research of the genetic structure of some of the shore birds and owls would indicate that the present organization of orders and families should have some modification.

The birds are a worldwide group of animals that are characterized by having the front limbs modified into wings that are used for flying. Perhaps the most unique feature of the birds is the feathers. These feathers are made up of a central support called a quill and a series of small filaments that are hooked together as barbs.

For many years it was believed that Archaeopteryx discovered in Bavaria was the oldest bird from about 150 million years ago. However, in l986, Sankar Chattterjee, a Texas paleontologist, reportedly discovered a bird in the genus Protoavis that lived about 225 million years ago.

When this project was begun in 1978, we used Austin & Singer for bird taxonomy. Since then, we have adopted many changes, but have kept some older concepts that are still found widely in the literature. Recently, we have used Clements and Howard & Moore. Very recently, we have used Monroe and Sibley for the higher taxonomy of the perching birds.

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

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