Galapagos - Birds
July 15, 2022I've never been much of a birder. It's odd, I suppose, for someone who name is "Vogel," but birds have never been a big interest of mine. But things are a little different in the Galapagos. The birds there have no fear of humans. They don't fly away when you come near. Mostly they ignore you, but sometimes you may have something of interest to them and they will come over for a closer look.
Here's a bit of a closer look at some of the common birds that we encountered.
The Brown Pelican
Jane has always loved pelicans. There's something really pre-historic about their looks, and they seem to be too big to fly sometimes. We've seen them in Florida and along the coast in Oregon, but never as close up as in the Galapagos. Here's one skimming along the surface of the water. He's getting ready to land in the water, so he is beginning to get his feet ready for landing. We saw pelicans diving for fish and filling their one-gallon-capacity pouches with water as they scooped up small fish alongside our ship at night.
Boobies. These are Blue-footed Boobies.
Boobies are found only in the Galapagos. Named by the Spanish sailors (bobo means "stupid") for the how easy they are to catch, they also appear a bit dopey when they look at you. There are three varieties off boobies; in addition to the Blue-Footed there are the Red-Footed and the Nazca Boobies. Boobies are found throughout the Galapagos, although some islands have more of one variety than others. They would often be fishing when we were snorkeling. It's quite something to be swimming in the water and suddenly have half a dozen birds dive-bombing into the water around you to catch fish.
The Galapagos Short-Eared Owl
The endemic Short-Eared Owl is found in several places in the Galapagos Islands. We saw this one on Genovesa Island, where they have learned a different method of hunting prey than on the other islands. Here the owls, whose brown coloring matches the brown lava, have learned to stalk the storm petrels who live in tunnels in the lava. The owls will locate a petrel nest, then wait patiently nearby for the petrel to either leave the nest or return to it. Then the owl will grab them by surprise. See more details here: Galapagos Short-eared Owl - Galapagos Conservation Trust
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.
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.
0 comments