Sula leucogaster LEUCOGASTER
Status: Rare casual summer visitor central and east.
Documentation: Photograph: 30 Jun 2014 Sarpy Co (Brogie 2015).
Taxonomy: Two subspecies are recognized (AviList 2025): leucogaster of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, and plotus of the Indian Ocean and central and western Pacific.
Two subspecies, brewsteri of islands off Southern California and Mexico, and etesiaca of islands off Central America and Colombia, were split from S. leucogaster Brown Booby as S. brewsteri Cocos Booby based on morphological, behavioral, and genetic differences (Chesser et al 2024, Vanderwerf et al 2023, Mlodinow et al 2024).
Photographs of the Nebraska Brown Boobies show they are referable to leucogaster, the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico subspecies (Brogie 2015). A study of parasites carried by specimens of Brown Booby from Colorado showed that it was from the Caribbean and concluded all Brown Booby records east of Colorado and New Mexico were almost certainly from the Caribbean (Baumann et al 2024). The authors (Baumann et al 2024) suggested that boobies adapted to saltwater specific parasites were by contrast susceptible to freshwater parasites and were unable to survive for long in a freshwater environment despite readily available fish food sources.
Summer: There are two records:
28 Jun-1 Jul 2014 Hanson Lake, Sarpy Co (Brogie 2015)
29 May-25 Jun 2017 Harlan County Reservoir, Harlan Co (Silcock 2017a, 2017b, Brogie 2018).
Nebraska’s first booby of any species was a Brown, photographed by Joan Bergeron at a private lake development, Hanson Lake, in southern Sarpy Co (Brogie 2015). Despite several “drive-by” searches on nearby streets, it was not relocated by birders.
Many observers saw Nebraska’s second, which was first reported by Jeff Drahota to Laurel Badura 29 May 2017 as it flew by his boat while he was fishing at Harlan County Reservoir; it was confirmed 31 May and seen by many through 25 Jun, most easily at its overnight roost on the west face of the dam.
Comments: In recent years there have been an increasing number of reports of this species northward in the Interior USA, probably related to northward movement by the species as a whole in North America. There are numerous records scattered over the eastern and southern US including several in Oklahoma and southern Missouri, and northwestward to Wisconsin (eBird.org, accessed Oct 2023). Northwestward on the Great Plains there are only about four records. There is a single Iowa record, 3 Sep 2015, one for Colorado 22 Jun 2016, and the two for Nebraska 29 May-1 Jul (eBird.org, accessed Oct 2023). A Brown Booby photographed atop a wind turbine in Gray Co, Kansas 31 Jul 2017 (KSBirds 2017) was a first for that state. The location of the Kansas sighting was approximately 322 km (200 miles) south of Harlan County Reservoir and the bird’s appearance was similar to the one present there weeks earlier, suggesting it was the same individual.
Images
Literature Cited
AviList Core Team, 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025.
Baumann, M., S. Brant, S. Bauernfeind, C. Gerhart, J. Williamson, A. Johnson, G. Spellman, S. Uhrig, S. West, and C. Witt. 2024) Freshwater parasites as potential barriers to seabird dispersal: Evidence from vagrant booby specimens in western North America. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 135. 10.1676/22-00090.
Brogie, M.A. 2015. 2014 (26th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 83: 125-138.
Brogie, M.A. 2018. 2017 (29th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 86: 131-142.
Chesser, R.T., S.M. Billerman, K.J. Burns, C.Cicero, J.L. Dunn, B.E. Hernández-Baños, R.A. Jiménez, O. Johnson, A.W. Kratter, N.A. Mason, P.C. Rasmussen, and J.V. Remsen, Jr. 2024. Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. Ornithology 141: 1–20.
KSbirds. 2017. Listserv; Brown Booby photograph, accessed 30 Apr 2018.
Mlodinow, S.G., E.A. Schreiber, and R.L. Norton. 2024. Cocos Booby (Sula brewsteri), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (B.K. Keeney and S.M. Billerman, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.cocboo1.01.
Silcock, W.R. 2017a. Spring field report, March-May 2017. NBR 85: 54-84.
Silcock, W.R. 2017b. Summer field report, June-July 2017. NBR 85: 94-120.
VanderWerf, E.A., M. Frye, J. Gilardi, J. Penniman, M. Rauzon, H.D. Pratt, R.S. Steffy, and J. Plissner. 2023. Range Expansion, Pairing Patterns, and Taxonomic Status of Brewster’s Booby Sula leucogaster brewsteri. Pacific Science 77: 125-136. https://doi.org/10.2984/77.1.8.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2025. Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 12 Jul 2025