WOWSA - The Galapagos

Our expectations were exceeded, to say the least.  The amount of wildlife in The Galapagos Islands that we saw, up close, was amazing.  Our reaction to the islands is of awe.  We are so very happy that a place on earth still exists where the animals are not afraid of humans and humankind does very little to interfere in their lives.  (Although we understand that just being there interferes.  It´s a balance we are grappling with - how to enjoy nature without spoiling it in the process.)  We witnessed birth, death, injuries, playfulness, mating, fighting, every activity imaginable.  The odors, sounds, behaviors, colors are indescribable.  The only way we know how is to post pictures.

We have broken up our pictures into 3 postings - above water wildlife, below water wildlife and the flora and scenic vistas.  First up, of course, Blue Footed Boobies.  The Galapagos wouldn´t be the Galapagos without all the Boobies.  We were lucky enough to see and hear their courtship behavior.  The males prance around proudly showing off their blue feet one at a time.  The bluer the feet the better the babies - it all has to do with blood flow.  The female gets to choose and either shows interest or acts completely indifferent.  We watched multiple males competing for a single female doing their dance.  Their whistling, and her honking could´ve kept us entertained for hours.

Notice the difference in pupil size, they are very distinct.  The female has the larger pupils.  All the better to see those blue feet.

Next...the Galagagos Turtle...such a sad story of pirates and others killing 10s of thousands of them for food. Then introduced goats eating all of their food and shelter.  They are struggling to survive.  We got to see these giants up close and personal.  Our naturalist fed passion fruit to one of these big males, and he litterally came within two feet us!  Amy had to move out of the way in another instance when one of these guys decided to walk right where she was standing.  She could have reached out and touched him, but of course didn´t.

We feel in love with the Land Iguanas...

and the Marine Iguanas....  Many times we literally had to step around these guys as they are everywhere!

Marine iguanas warm themselves in the sun on the rocks and by cuddling with each other.

They eat algae under the water while cligging to the rocks and coral in some very fast currents and then swim back to shore propelling themselves with their massive tail.

We watched as several Short eared owls hunted Galapagos storm petrels, during the day,

for an unsuspecting tasty meal.

Is it a bird or a fish?  It was a flying bird at one time in it´s evolution, now it´s a Flightless cormorant.  They have the most pathetic wings we´ve ever seen on a bird.

 

Be sure and notice the Flightless cormorant´s turquoise eye.

Galapagos Greater Flamingos....so beautiful and so endangered.

A Swallow-tailed Gull Family.  Notice the red eye ring.

Red Footed Boobies....

 

We watched many varieties of Hermit crabs checking out their buddies homes (the shells on their backs).  They frequently upgrade to bigger and better homes and are always on the look out for the best fit.  (Sounds vaguely similar to The American Way.)  The Sally Lightfoot crab stole the show though....

Magnificent and Great Frigate Birds....and their babies...

When the males are trying to attract a female, they inflate their large red balloon-like sacks.  It is amazing to see these horny birds at work!  The females will see this brillant red sack from the ground....the bigger and redder, the better.  Than she will fly down to see if it is as big as advertised.  She gets to make the choice to stay and allow him to mate if she likes what she sees, or move on to the next willing fellow.

The florescent green feathers on the Frigate´s back are much more distinctive in person.

The Waved Albatross is another special creature.  These birds are only found on one island in the Galapagos and no where else in the world.  They have a 10 foot wing span and are as awkward on land as they are graceful in the sky.  Watching these large birds as they clumisly take off is another unforgettable moment.  We watched their bonding ritual and adored their antics.  The clucking, wobbling and beak clashing was spectular.

We´ve all seen Brown Pelicans and there are quite a few in The Galapagos.  The thing that makes them different is that they seem to enjoy that the Brown Noddies land on their head and wait for bits of fish to fall out of their mouth and into the water.  It was a hilarious sight.

The Red-billed Tropicbird was by far the most beautiful with it´s elegant flight and long graceful tail.  With our camera, a super-zoom but not an SLR, shooting birds in flight proved to be challenging.  So you have to look hard to really see these Tropicbirds.

Galapagos mockingbirds....there are four individual species, again all evolved from a single specie.

Nazca boobies...

Momma feeding her baby....

Last but not least are Darwin´s Finches.  There are 13 species in The Galapagos, all evolving from one individual specie.  We saw 10 of the 13.  Unless side by side we found them hard to tell apart and they are extremely hard to photograph.

For our birding buddies, for the record, we enjoyed many more birds then the above:  Audubon´s shearwater, dark-rumped petrel, Lava Gull, Great blue heron, Cattle egret, Lava heron, Striated heron, Yellow-crowned night heron, American Oystercatcher, Ruddy turnstone, Galapagos hawk, Galapagos dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Yellow warbler, White-checked pintail ducks, and Flying fish (not actually a bird, but their flock, I mean school, fooled us a time or two).  Stay tuned for our below the water friends.