5x10 Oil on Cedar
 
The blue-footed booby displays his distinctive blue feet in an elaborate mating ritual by lifting them up and down while strutting before the female.  He lives on the coast from the Gulf of California south to Peru.  About half of the breeding pairs nest on the Galapagos Islands.  Although he may hunt alone  for his diet of fish, he usually hunts in groups.  This species begins sitting on eggs immediately after they are laid, in contrast to other birds who will wait to sit on the eggs until the last egg is laid and all the chicks hatch together.  But booby families have chicks with a growth inequality and size disparity between siblings.  At times this leads to "siblicide".  Scientist have used boobies to study parent-offspring conflict ands sibling rivalry.