There are three kinds of boobies: the blue-footed boobies, the red-footed boobies, and the Nasca boobies, which have white plumage and greyish brown feet. All have webbed feet, but the red-footed boobies have one toe pointed backwards with claws, so that their feet are prehensile. Thus, they can perch and nest in trees. The blue-footed and Nasca boobies nest on the ground and perch on rocks, although we did find one Nasca booby that had climbed into the lower branches of a shrub. They lay one, two or three eggs (depending on species), but only one will survive.
The 3 photos above and the one below are from postcards by
Jaime Dominguez Rodas.
All other photos are original.
This Nasca booby managed to get into a tree.
This immature redfooted booby (the feet don't turn red until maturity) is
not bothered by tourists.