Help me identify this bird please [sick bird]

[Ferret]

A quick search on the net shows three species of Booby frequent the Maldives, Masked Booby, Sula dactylatra Brown Booby, Sula leucogaster and Red-footed Booby Sula sula but I cannot find any specific information about breeding colonies. This site may help Sea Birds in Maldives But as they are all fish eaters I am not sure if actual species will make much difference to its care, it looks like a fully fledged bird to me so as long as it is not suffering from a disease and is just weak from being unable to feed due to bad weather a few days of good feeding should see it fit for release. I think it should be able to deal with whole fish unless they are large. Hope that helps and good luck.
Ferret

[RoyW]

The red colouring on the plumage is wrong, but I would suspect that this is staining of some sort (especially as the red colour seems patchy and uneven).

It is a Red-footed Booby (pale head and underparts, and a red toe just about visible - I don't think the red colour on the foot is staining!).

[The Black Rabbit]

Not that this is very "wild about Britain", but thought I'd pop by this post and let any interested parties know that red-footed boobies turn up on the Maldives quite regularly.
When my wife and I visited these beautiful atolls two years ago, I found a (brown morph) red-foot, a storm survivor (we were told) but now living as a non-flying beach bum, getting fed bits of fush etc... by the locals and tourists. (photos attached to this post I hope).



They're a tropical bird and if finding themselves in dire straits in the middle of the Indian Ocean (for example) they'll often look to recuperate if possible on a nice bit of land. Of course, they may be so badly injured that full recovery is out of the question....
They're also known for following the fishing boats around, which I'm told the fishermen don't always like.



TBR

[shamin40]

@ the black rabbit: thanks , thats a nice bird i hope u enjoyed the tour.

royW : im very surprised because the colour is red, i googled and found that the birds are brown and white. and the colour is not stain , trust me.. the beak is also in red colour which amaze me.... HOW is it possible? the bird is sleeping as i type this. thanks