Blue-Footed Boobies on Decline in Galápagos

No one ever forgets a blue-footed boobie. Known for its bright blue feet and spontaneous dance moves to attract potential partners, the creature's dwindling population has unfortunately fallen more than 50 percent in the last 20 years.

Professor of biology at Wake Forest University and lead study investigator Dave Anderson believes that their unexplained disappearance may be due to many adult boobies electing not to breed.

"Until 1997, there were literally thousands of boobies' at these breeding sites and hundreds of nests full of hatching chicks," Anderson said, via a press release. "Then suddenly, the Boobies just weren't there. There were a few cases where we found isolated breeding attempts but most of these didn't produce chicks."

Seabird ecologists initially pegged the lack of breeding to an isolated occurrence or just a few bad seasons. Yet after three years of little to no breeding activity, researchers began to worry.

Thus began a comprehensive survey of blue-footed boobies in the Galápagos that monitored breeding patterns at three to five month intervals at four of the largest blue-footed boobie breeding colonies. Results showed little to no breeding activity.

"It was alarming," Anderson said, via the release. "This was a drastic change from the 1980s and 1990s, when young Blue-foots were common throughout the archipelago."

Many of the researchers believe that a lack of sardines, a highly nutritious and typically accessible food for the birds, plays a critical role in their mating patterns.

Findings showed that those who did not have a diet of almost 100 percent sardines could still live sufficiently but were less likely to breed successfully. "We think the main factor behind the decline is a scarcity of food," said Colorado state seabird biologist Kate Huyvaert, via the release. "Whether that's natural or linked to anthropogenic change, we aren't sure."

The question now remains--what's happening to the sardines? "Are they being overfished, are they leaving Galápagos waters due to climate change or other pressures?" said Johannah Barry, president of the local conservancy, via the release. "If they are leaving what other fauna might be impacted?"

As much of the remaining boobie population are nearing elderly ages, it will become hard if not next to impossible for any of them to produce and raise offspring.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Avian Conservation and Ecology.