Dr Fiona McDuie

Where?

Price Cay, Swains Reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Raine Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Phillip Island, Norfolk Island, Australia

Masked boobies are the largest of all Sulidae and display reverse sexual dimorphism with females being larger than males. This species is wide-ranging in tropical pelagic waters, and is found in throughout the western Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. They prefer to forage in deeper water than other Suliade and often preferentially feed flying fish or other on large schooling fish or squid. Across the Great Barrier Reef masked boobies nest on sand cays and islands such as Raine Island in the north and the Swains Reefs in the south.

I tracked chick-rearing adults on foraging trips, which generally last approximately half a day but can be 24-72 hours away from the chick, attempting to ascertain overlap with foraging locations of other species such as wedge-tailed shearwaters and identify oceanographic factors of influence over foraging patterns and locations for the boobies. My interest was in how specific environmental parameters might modulate foraging strategies and to what extent phenotypic plasticity at both population and individual based levels may confound the findings.