Land Iguana

Photos Drífa Freysdóttir

Fifth day.

Isla Seymour Norte is just north of Isla Baltra where we will be leaving from tomorrow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Seymour_Island

The frigate birds nest on Seymour, both the great frigate bird and the magnificent one. The magnificent frigate is a bit larger, but they look very much alike. The way to tell the males apart is by the color sheen of the feathers on the back of the birds. The magnificent has a purple sheen – the great has a greenish sheen. The female great frigate has a red eye ring and the female magnificent frigate sports a blue eye ring. The frigates have the largest wingspan compared to body size of all birds. They spend most of their time soaring effortlessly over the oceans months on end. They can even sleep when they are airborne and seem to have the ability to rest one brain hemisphere at the time. However, they can’t land on water – feathers get wet and heavy. Previously I have seen them several times but never up close. The frigates like to follow ships on their journeys. The males have a scarlet throat pouch which they inflate to impress the females. The female birds have a white throat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigatebird

https://www.birdnote.org/show/sleeping-wing

Great frigate
Great frigate (green sheen)
Magnificent frigate
Magnificent frigate (purple sheen)
Great frigate chick
Great frigate chick (rusty on top of head)

Waking around the path we came upon a booby in love. The series of pictures are priceless where he dances around – picks up his stick – shows it to the love of his life – more dancing – alas she was not interested and scorned him while we were there. Let’s hope he can win her over someday.

Diving at Seymour Norte was great and I managed to snap a picture of a parrot fish that is more or less focused – getting better at that. During the snorkeling I saw a Galapagos shark glide by – a turtle – and a whole host of colorful fish.

Parrotfish

That concludes this Galapagos series.

Santa Fe

Photos Drífa Freysdóttir

Fourth day.

Santa Fe – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_Island

We started the day on Isla Santa Fe. A modest climb up the lava edges led us to a plateau. The soil was bone dry and cacti littered the landscape. No leaves yet on the palo santo trees, but soon it will start to rain. We did not spot any porpoises but they have been reintroduced to the island.

Land iguanas were cooperative and we spotted several of those guys. One of them even smiled to us. Could have been gas though. However, this is a smile only a mother would love – sorry iguana.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galapagos_land_iguana —

I must post some more iguana photos – they are just so cool.

On returning to our boat in the dinghy we saw a sea lion that had just given birth. The hawks were monitoring the situation and momma sea lion was nervous. She decided to head for the beach with the pup in her mouth. Immediately the hawks swooped down on the afterbirth, and then it was total mayhem. The “Nature red in tooth and claw” comes to mind. Usually attributed to Tennyson’s In Memoriam.

Next stop was the tiny Isla Plaza Sur – just east of of the much bigger Isla Santa Cruz. The scenery there was just stunning as you can see in the picture below. This is one of the most amazing places I have been to. We witnessed restoration project i.e. the small cacti have to be protected until they reach a certain hight. The iguanas are vegetarian. The lava rocks someplace were turning white – called Galapagos marble the guide joked. The bird droppings will have their effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Plaza_Island

Isla Cruz Sur
Isla Plaza Sur

The red billed tropicbird was there in force showing of its aerial prowess. It’s a stunningly beautiful bird.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-billed_tropicbird

Next on the menu for us was to observe the swallow tailed gull. Note how big those eyes are – it’s a night-feeder and the end of its bill is florescent. For Icelandic readers – lundi (Puffin) also has a florescent beak.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow-tailed_gull

Next stop Seymour Norte.

Black rock crab (will turn red when bigger)

Photos Drífa Freysdóttir

Third day

Isla Floreana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floreana_Island

Despite the population size the early thirties in Floreana was a place for a mystery drama. https://www.thoughtco.com/unsolved-murder-mystery-the-galapagos-affair-2136125

Punta Cormorant was our first destination. There is a brackish lagoon there with a Flamengo sighting possibility. Two coves are accessible on each side of the Punta with a short hike through the Palo Santo forest. The Palo Santo trees were bare, waiting for the rainy season. We were lucky with our sightings – flamingos – green turtle – nursing sea lion – penguin – plus the usual suspects! We sure ticked all the boxes for that location.

Nursing sea lion
Nursing sea lion

We spotted a Green turtle ambling up onto the beach. The turtle will crawl above the high-water mark and dig a hole there whereupon the eggs are deposited. The eggs are covered with sand and the turtle makes its way to the ocean again. Curiously the sex of the turtle is temperature dependent – over 31 centigrade in the nest will produce femalesunder 28 Centigrade males and in between a mix. I have seen news that there are now more female turtles hatched. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/temperature-dependent.html

Green turtle
Green turtlehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_sea_turtle

On the brackish lake there were indeed flamingos snacking with their heads upside down finding their food in the mud. The Palo Santo trees are waiting for the rains to start. The hillside will turn green and conditions will become more tropical. https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/galapagos-flamingo/

On our way to the ship we had a stroke of luck and spotted a Galapagos penguin. This little guy was cleaning up on a lava outcropping and our guide spotted him. The Galapagos Penguin is of the banded variety (relatives in Patagonia and South Africa), and the only penguin to venture north of the equator.

Galapagos penguin
Galapagos penguin – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galapagos_penguin

From Punta Cormorant we sailed to Corona Diablo, that is a volcanic crater half submerged. This turned out to be a fantastic snorkeling experience. However, my skills at shooting underwater photos is limited, but the wet suit sure is dressy.

On to Post Office Bay. Whalers started the tradition of leaving letters in a barrel in Post Office Bay. When it was time to return home they stopped by the collective post office and took letters heading for the same destination and hand delivered them to the addressees. – https://www.galapagosislands.com/blog/post-office-bay/

The usual suspects.

The Mangroves are vital for coastline ecology. This tree has adapted to saline environment and excretes salt on the underside of their leaves. If you do not believe me lick a mangrove leaf. Their importance will increase with rising sea levels. Let’s hope this shoot will make it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangrove

Mangrove shoot
Mangrove shoot

Next stop Isla Santa Fe.

Galapagos Albatross

Photos Drífa Freysdóttir

Second day

Isla Espanola is a volcanic island, as are the other Galapagos islands. The islands sit on the so-called Galapagos microplate, which in its turn sits at the junction of the CocosPacificNazca tectonic plates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galápagos_Microplate

At tectonic plate junctions there will be volcanic activity. I am used to lavas coming from Iceland. The lavas and the craters are familiar, but decidedly not the flora and fauna. The igneous rock is softer than the metamorphic one. The Pacific ocean pounds away relentlessly, thus the Galapagos have been formed and eroded in cycles over the eons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Española_Island

These photos are from Punta Suarez. The hawk and the sea lion from Bahia Gardner.

This is the island to visit to see the waved (Galapagos) albatross and the only island they nest on. When an albatross pairs up for egg discussion and nest building, they dance. They extend their necks then lower their beaks. Then there will some beak “fencing”. The following video show some great moves. Now if the dance is accepted, they pair and nest and raise their chick. After that they leave the island and each other and stay away and apart for 2 years flying wast distances over open seas. When it is time again for nesting the male birds will arrive first. Then female birds come back one after the other and the only way the pair can find each other is to do their signature dance.

The signature dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90MfHbdfzAM&feature=youtu.be

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waved_albatross

Here is a gallery of the smaller birds. I can’t identify the finches, so I lump them into “Darwin’s finches.” These finches are famous for the work Darwin did when he visited the islands, and led him to the theory of evolution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_finches

Now for the lizards. Lava is porous and water just seeps through the top layer and disappears, that fact has important repercussions for all life on the islands. We can imagine a long drought – land iguanas going hungry – an enterprising individual starts foraging in the wrack on the beach, and little by little over a long time we have marine iguanas

The lava lizard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microlophus_delanonis

The Marine Iguana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_iguana

The boobies are are in the same family (Sulidaehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulidae -) as the northern gannet (ísl. súla) which Icelanders know from their shores. These birds are magnificent and their dives into the sea are spectacular. At Punta Suarez there are breeding colonies of both species.

The Nazca boobieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_booby

The Blue footed boobieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-footed_booby

The Galapagos hawk and the sea lion standoff at Bahia Gardner. The hawk is the apex predator in the Galapago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galapagos_hawk

Galapagos hawk and a sea lion.

Next stop Isla Floreana.