Current view: Text account
Site description (2006 baseline):
Site location and context
Booby Cay is an uninhabited island located off the northeastern end of Mayaguana. It encomposes about 75 hectares and is approximately one and a half hours by boat from Abraham's Bay, Mayaguana.
The northwestern shoreline is comprised of sandy beach, dips in the centre of the cay forms lakes which shrink and grow in water level and salinity according to rainfall and the extreme southeast portion has inpenetrable vegetation.
In 1997, Sprunt confirmed that Brown Boobies were nesting on Booby Cay. There are reports of a non-breeding resident flock of Greater Flamingos also residing on this cay. During December 1997, Bendon while on an Iguana research trip saw a flock of about 80 flamingos on a beach and in the shallow water at Booby Cay.
Non-bird biodiversity: There is an endemic race of Rock Iguana on Booby Cay. In March 1997, Bendon visited this site and reported a healthy population of about 200 of these iguanas surviving in wild.
Booby Cay has scrubland coppice of seagrape, seven year apple, prickly pear and Turks Cap cacti plus many other species of shrubs and vines. Buttonwoods and other wetland plant species abound near the ponds providing food for all species of fauna that exits there.
The cay has no human habitation but has been used to graze goats by persons living on mainland Mayaguana.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Predation of nest and birds by introduced predators such as cats and goats.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Booby Cay (Bahamas). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/booby-cay-iba-bahamas on 23/11/2024.
