Masked Booby

Masked booby is a large white tropical seabird with a black facial mask and black flight feathers. The yellow bill is framed by black facial skin, and black wings and tail contrast with a white body; Australasian gannet has a golden head and pale blue-grey bill.

In New Zealand it breeds only in the Kermadec Islands and ranges through surrounding tropical and subtropical ocean. It plunge-dives for flying fish and squid and lays eggs in a bare scrape on open ground.

Masked booby is Threatened — Nationally Endangered (NZ Threat Classification). Its tiny New Zealand breeding population is vulnerable to storms, disturbance and introduced predators. Raoul and other Kermadec islands hold the only regular New Zealand population; mainland sightings are rare vagrants.