Booby Album: Images of Bullying Birds

Booby Profile

A Nazca booby in profile.

(Image credit: wcpmedia, Shutterstock)

Nazca boobies live in colonies on the Galapagos Islands.

Biting Booby

A Nazca booby biting a chick. — (Image credit: Jacquelyn Grace)

A Nazca booby bites an unrelated chick. An October 2011 study finds that abused chicks are likely to grow up as abusers themselves.

Booby Colony

A booby colony on the Galapagos Islands. — (Image credit: Jacquelyn Grace)

Nazca boobies breed in giant colonies, and parents often leave their babies alone to go forage.

Booby Mom and Baby

Nazca booby mother and nestling. — (Image credit: XuRa (opens in new tab), Shutterstock (opens in new tab))

A Nazca booby mother (left) and her baby.

Booby Family

Two Nazca boobies and a baby on the Galapagos. — (Image credit: Jacquelyn Grace)

A mated pair of Nazca boobies with their nestling in a breeding colony.

Booby Attack

Nazca booby attacking a chick — (Image credit: Jacquelyn Grace)

An adult Nazca booby bites the shoulder of an unguarded nestling.

Nazca Booby on Nest

Nazca booby on the nest. — (Image credit: Pierre-Jean Durieu (opens in new tab), Shutterstock (opens in new tab))

A Nazca booby sits on an egg.

Two Nazca Boobies

Two Nazca boobies on the Galapagos. — (Image credit: Stacy Funderburke (opens in new tab), Shutterstock (opens in new tab))

A pair of Nazca boobies.

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.