Our Nest on Wheels

There are very few places in the world where you can swim with penguins. Most penguins they are found in really cold places, like Antarctica. The Galapagos Islands are one of the few places where you can swim with penguins in temperate water, like 80 degrees. Another is the Tanganyika Wild Animal Park in Kansas. (I think those animals wake up every day wondering just how the heck they ended up in Kansas!)

We encountered penguins at several of the islands that we visited and sometimes found them in the waters where we were snorkeling.

I saw this guy while we were snorkeling.  I surfaced next to him and took this picture with my underwater camera. These penguins don't seem to mind if you get close to them. In fact, they don't seem to be bothered at all by the presence of other large creatures like sharks and sea lions.

Here's what a penguin looks like from underneath the water. It's said that penguins look like "deflated ducks" when swimming on the surface of the water, and that's true; pretty much all you see above water is their head. The rest of the body is under water, like this one.

Penguins are amazingly fast when swimming under water. Their flippers (or wings?) enable them to move really quickly and dodge and turn on a dime. Here's one "fishing" by swimming through a school of little fish at high speed. The little fish are pretty good at avoiding becoming lunch, but every now and then the penguin gets his meal. One penguin even tested my little finger to see if it was tasty when I snorkeled nearby.

 In November 2021, we wrote "Where Did the Water Go" after our October visit to Lake Powell on the Arizona/Utah border. At the time we were shocked by how far the water level had fallen in the 3 years since our previous visit. In November, it looked certain that the lake level would drop below 3525 feet (above sea level). 3525 feet is considered a critical level, as the ability to generate power decreases dramatically below that level. 

Well, on March 15 of this year, Lake Powell did drop below 3525 ft, forcing the Bureau of Reclamation, who runs the dam, to act. They decided to buy a little time by increasing releases from some upstream dams, like Flaming Gorge, while reducing releases from Lake Powell. This plan has achieved a bit of the intended result, and Lake Powell levels have risen again.

The Brown Pelican

Boobies.  These are Blue-footed Boobies.

This is the only nocturnal gull in the world, found mainly in the Galapagos. We did not see them hunting at night, and they seemed to be out during the daytime hours as well. So perhaps they work a double shift. As it was breeding season when we were there, we did see some tending to eggs in their nests on the ground. We even saw a couple of parents do the "changing of the guard" where one parent takes over for the other in tending the nest. More details on these gulls here:  28 Swallow-tailed Gull Facts: World's Only Fully Nocturnal Gull and Seabird • Storyteller Travel

Frigatebirds

This is a male Frigatebird, showing off for any of the females in the area who might be impressed by the size of his red sac. We saw frigatebirds throughout the islands, including many who soared along just a few feet above our ship as we traveled overnight from island to island. It was mating season, and we saw many males trying to attract a female, many couples, and many new-born chicks.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

We didn't see too many of these birds, but I think it's a Yellow Crowned Night heron, possibly a juvenile as this one doesn't have the yellow crown yet. This guy was standing right alongside the trail we were hiking on and seemed to be using his wing to point out the direction that we should go. Again, no fear of humans; this photo was taken from a distance of about 6 or 8 feet.

We saw many other birds, including penguins. The Galapagos is one of the rare places on earth where you can swim in temperate waters with penguins, which we did. Pictures of them coming soon.