Galapagos Adventure, June 2001
Thursday, June 7, Genovesa (Darwin Bay)
AM: Prince Phillips Steps, birds, birds, birds
PM: Darwin Bay Beach, birds, birds, birds
We anchored in Darwin Bay on Genovesa Is. (where, incidentally,
Darwin never came!) This place was BIRDCITY! It was a nesting
place for three varieties of Boobies (Red-footec, Blue-Footed
and Nazca Boobies. (Nazca is the techtonic plate that the Galapagos
is on.) Great Firgates. Tropic Birds. Gulls. Everywhere!
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This is a nesting Booby. They simply make their nests on
the ground, lay eggs and hatch their young.That works because
there are no natural enemies. Note how they avoid fouling their
nests - they project guano! |
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This is a young Booby. It has to get used to catching fish
and juggling them so it can swallow them headfirst, so it practices
with rocks. |
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Here's Karen approaching a young Nazca Booby with a stick.
They love to play with sticks so they will let you approach them
closely. |
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This is a very unusual bird - a Vampire Finch. It must
have started picking parasites off the feet of a Booby, but the
sharp beak drew blood, for which it developed a taste. Now they
drink the blood and the Boobies don't seem to mind! |
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The Galapagos is full of birds that act a bit strange.
This is a Red-Footed Booby. It has webbed feet like a duck, but
lives in trees. It cannot hold onto the branch, so it just balances
there... |
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Perhaps the second best-known animal in the Islands is
the Great Frigate. To attract females, the male inflates a large
red pouch under its chin. Certainly makes them hard to miss! |
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Here's both a male and female, so you can see the differences. |
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No visit to the Galapagos would be complete without pictures
of two Swallowtail Gulls mating. The female still looks skeptical.
The male hops on top. |
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And does his thing. |
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A couple of times, in fact, before its over in a minute. |
Friday, June 8
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