CreatureData

Red-footed booby

Sula sula (Linnaeus, 1766)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The red-footed booby (Sula sula) is a species in the family Sulidae, order Suliformes. Recorded adults weigh 928 g to 1.07 kg and live up to 23 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Red-footed booby (Sula sula)
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the red-footed booby

Weight
928 g – 1.07 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
96 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
23 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
23 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
44.3 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
2 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the red-footed booby?

RED-FOOTED BOOBY · WINGSPAN 96 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 96 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the red-footed booby is about 56% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the red-footed booby live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The red-footed booby is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the red-footed booby?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The red-footed booby (Sula sula) is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, harnessing the wind to fly efficiently, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They forage by catching flying fish from above the ocean's surface and by performing shallow dives. They are found widely in the tropics, and breed colonially in coastal regions, especially isolated islands such as St. Brandon, Mauritius (Cargados Carajos shoals), and the Chagos Archipelago. Although its population is declining, it is considered to be a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It faces threats from climate change, competition with fisheries, human disturbance, and invasive species.

From the Wikipedia article “Red-footed booby” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red-footed_booby&oldid=1333985495), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the red-footed booby endangered?

The red-footed booby is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the red-footed booby classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderSuliformes
  5. familySulidae
  6. genusSula
  7. SpeciesSula sula (Linnaeus, 1766)

Synonyms Pelecanus piscator, Pelecanus stultus, Pelecanus sula, Sula australis, Sula piscator, Sula sula piscator

Other names and names in other languages (75)
  • RooipootmalgasAfrikaans
  • أحمق أحمر القدمينArabic
  • أطيش أحمر القدمينArabic
  • Qırmızı ayaqlı sümsük quşuAzerbaijani
  • Червенокрак рибоядBulgarian
  • Morskoul treid ruzBreton
  • mascarell cama-roigCatalan
  • terej červenonohýCzech
  • bwbi troedgochWelsh
  • Rødfodet SuleDanish
  • RotfußtölpelGerman
  • Κοκκινοπόδαρη ΣούλαGreek
  • Ruĝkrura suloEsperanto
  • ruĝpieda suloEsperanto
  • Piquero pardoSpanish
  • Boba patirrojaSpanish
  • Bobo pata rojaSpanish
  • Bobo Patas RojasSpanish
  • Bubí de Patas ColoradasSpanish
  • Bubí Patas RojasSpanish
  • Piquero de patas rojasSpanish
  • Piquero patirrojoSpanish
  • punajalg-suulaEstonian
  • Zanga hankagorriBasque
  • بوبی پاسرخPersian
  • کودن پاقرمزPersian
  • punajalkasuulaFinnish
  • Fou à pieds rougesFrench
  • Búbaí cosdeargIrish
  • Atobá de pés vermellosGalician
  • Boobee jiarg-chassaghManx
  • ‘āHawaiian
  • ʻĀHawaiian
  • סולה אדומת-רגלHebrew
  • piroslábú szulaHungarian
  • Angsa-batu kaki-merahIndonesian
  • TrjásúlaIcelandic
  • Sula piedirossiItalian
  • Sula zamperosseItalian
  • アカアシカツオドリJapanese
  • 붉은발얼가니새Korean
  • raudonkojis padūkėlisLithuanian
  • sarkankāju sullaLatvian
  • NgovomenatongotraMalagasy
  • ചെങ്കാലൻ കടൽവാത്ത്Malayalam
  • Uaumrv
  • Burung Dendang Kaki MerahMalay
  • roodpootgentDutch
  • RaudfotsuleNorwegian Nynorsk
  • rødfotsuleNorwegian
  • Bubi BalauPapiamento
  • Bubi Pia CòráPapiamento
  • Bubi Pia KòráPapiamento
  • KuelPalauan
  • głuptak czerwononogiPolish
  • لال پیروالا بوبیWestern Panjabi
  • Atobá-de-pés-vemelhosPortuguese
  • alcatraz-de-pés-vermelhosPortuguese
  • atobá-de-pé-vermelhoPortuguese
  • atobá-de-pés-vermelhosPortuguese
  • Красноногая олушаRussian
  • RuksesjuolsuvláNorthern Sami
  • sula červenonoháSlovak
  • rdečenogi strmoglavecSlovenian
  • Црвенонога блунаSerbian
  • Crvenonoga blunaSerbian
  • rödfotad sulaSwedish
  • นกบู๊บบี้ตีนแดงThai
  • Ngutulei veʻekulaTongan
  • Kırmızı Ayaklı SümsükTurkish
  • Kızıl ayaklı sümsük kuşuTurkish
  • сула червононогаUkrainian
  • Chim điên chân đỏVietnamese
  • 紅腳鰹鳥Chinese
  • 红脚鲣鸟Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the red-footed booby

Other species in the same genus Sula.

CompareRed-footed booby vs Blue-footed boobyRed-footed booby vs Masked boobyRed-footed booby vs Brown boobyRed-footed booby vs Peruvian booby

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the red-footed booby?

An adult red-footed booby weighs 928 g – 1.07 kg and has a wingspan of 96 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the red-footed booby live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the red-footed booby for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the red-footed booby endangered?

The red-footed booby is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the red-footed booby live?

The red-footed booby has a recorded lifespan of 23 years.

What kind of animal is the red-footed booby?

The red-footed booby (Sula sula) belongs to the family Sulidae in the order Suliformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Red-footed booby (Sula sula). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-footed-booby

MLA

“Red-footed booby (Sula sula).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-footed-booby.

BibTeX
@misc{red_footed_booby_2026,
  title = {Red-footed booby (Sula sula)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-footed-booby},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}