brown booby (sula leucogaster) subspecies (1 Viewer)

Hi,

not sure if this should go in this thread or the taxonomy one?

I am trying to find some references for identification of boobies, particularly non-adult birds.

Im particularly interested in brown booby subspecies

The 4 subspecies recognised in HBW are:
S. l. leucogaster
S. l. plotus
S. l. brewsteri
S. l. etesiaca

If any one knows of any good references, or has any photos of know subspecies at know locations that they would be willing to let me see that would be enormously appreciated...

PM me if you can and I can supply an email address

many thanks

Ben

Can't help with juveniles/subadults but here is an adult nominate ssp (S. l. leucogaster) taken on Little Tobago Island, T & T last summer (july 2006).

many thanks steve.

Clements lists those same 4 subspecies, listing ranges for each. As far as other booby species go... oh heck, I'll just quote straight out of Clements:

Northern Gannet; Morus bassanus
no subspecies, Breeds n Atlantic coasts; ranges to coastal nw Africa

Cape Gannet; Morus capensis
no subspecies, Breeds islands off s Africa; disperses to coastal Mozambique

Australasian Gannet; Morus serrator
no subspecies, Islands and coasts of Australia, Tasmaniaand New Zealand

Abbott's Booby; Sula abbotti
no subspecies, Christmas I. (e Indian Ocean)

Blue-footed Booby; Sula nebouxii
S. n. nebouxii - Pacific coast of Mexico to Peru
S. n. excisa - Galapagos Islands

Peruvian Booby; Sula variegata
no subspecies, Coastal sw Colombia to s Chile

Masked Booby; Sula dactylatra
S. d. personata - Islands in central and w Pacific to islands off w Australia
S. d. fullagari - Islands in n Tasman Sea
S. d. dactylatra - Breeds islands in Caribbean and sw Atlantic Ocean
S. d. melanops - Breeds islands in w Indian Ocean

Nazca Booby; Sula granti
no subspecies, Breeds islands in Galapagos and off w Mexico

Red-footed Booby; Sula sula
S. s. sula - Breeds islands in Caribbean and off Brazil
S. s. rubripes - Breeds islands in tropical Pacific and Indian oceans
S. s. websteri - Islands off w Mexico, Central America and Galapagos Islands

Brown Booby; Sula leucogaster
S. l. brewsteri - Islands in Gulf of California and off w Mexico
S. l. etesiaca - Islands off Central America and Colombia
S. l. leucogaster - Islands in Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and tropical Atlantic
S. l. plotus - Islands in Red Sea, tropical Indian Ocean and s China Sea

Thanks for replies...

noone else got any brown booby photos out there??

How about a google image search? Seems to bring up plenty shots for me...

And an even better resource, BirdForum's own gallery: http://birdforum.net/gallery/

Here is a photo of S. l. Brewsteri that was perched on a fishing boat off El Salvador with about 100 'normal' (I don't know what the local subspecies is) Brown Boobies. I hope this is some use.

Tom

Here are some photos of the other Brown Boobies on the boat, which are probably S. l. etesiaca (based on distribution alone).

Tom

cheers tom

much appreciated, couple of young birds there..

Best

ben