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Volume 49, No. 2

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A new breeding colony of Blue-footed Booby Sula nebouxii at Islote González, Archipelago Islas Desventuradas, Chile

Key words: Blue-footed Booby, Sula nebouxii, breeding, Islas Desventuradas, Chile

Abstract

We describe a new disjunct population of Blue-footed Booby Sula nebouxii at Islote González in the Islas Desventuradas archipelago. Though likely much larger, the population size at the time of our survey was a minimum of 16 breeding pairs. On 14-15 December 2020, two pairs of boobies with nestlings and four pairs with empty nests were found. Likely the species is a recent arrival to the archipelago, perhaps during one of the strong El Niño events between 1970 and 2001 (especially 1982/83, when the species was first recorded in Chile). Blue-footed Booby might also nest on different areas at San Félix Island and some smaller islets around the archipelago, where they would have no nesting-site competition from the larger Masked Booby S. dactylatra.

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