Waved Albatross!

Albatross! These are all Waved Albatross that live only in the tropics of Peru and Ecuador.  We saw these in the Galapagos on Espanola Island.  They are medium sized albatrosses.  To me they seemed pretty big. They can glide for hours without flapping their wings as the one below is showing.

They greet their partners and other albatross by clattering their beaks against the others. They can also live up to 45 and maybe even 50 years.  Courtship is intricate which much bowing, beak clattering and oo-oo calls. I find Albatross humeri very interesting because in length and vague overall look they resemble a human humerus.

There were many half grown chicks going into their adult feathers.  The one below looks quite mangy as he still has lots of chick down but you can see on the back and wings the adult feathers coming through. The parents regurgitate over 4 pounds of fish oil a day to feed the young.

Galapagos Port Towns

So we are going back to 2011 in November when Geordie and myself were in the Galapagos.  There were many port towns that were fun to explore and they were stunning from the water. Below is Puerto Boquerizo Moreno from the boat.  Generally we would moor in the harbour and than take tenders to shore.

Below is the Fish market in Punta Ayora. Those are very expectant brown pelicans hoping for fish scraps from the fisherman who are gutting and cleaning a catch from earlier in the morning.  Sea gulls would skull by low to try to steal a piece. Bad birds.

 The Galapagos Sea Lions behaved much like pigeons do in North American cities.  Basically they are everywhere. Including on this park bench not giving a damn about Geordie and I having our picture taken next to it.  This is in Puerto Boquerizo Moreno where sea lions were rampant along the sea front. Much like gulls, pigeons and Canadian geese are in Vancouver.

Boobies!

Thought that would get your attention you perv.    So below is the Nazca Booby. It's found in the Galapagos, on Clipperton Island and a few islands off the Baja Penninsula. Adults lay two eggs but once hatched the siblings will fight and one will get pushed out of the nests. The two eggs also serve as protection just in case one of the eggs is stolen or doesn't hatch.

Here is a napping male and female. A nicely symetrical matched set. Weird Nazca booby fact: unpaired adults will sometimes try to single out chicks and bite, groom or occasionally try to mate with them. Science doesn't know why yet.

And here is a nice new fluffy chick who has commited siblicide.  He is extremely well fed and healthy so its parents are doing a good job bringing back food for it. These birds are quite friendly and unafraid of humans. We were able to get close without stressing the birds. At the first sign of them being upset the plan was to back off and leave them alone. Neither the adults nor the fledglings had a problem with our presence.

Baby Sea Lions: Natures Mother's Day Cards

Mother's Day is here and happy Mother's Day to all our Moms and all of nature's moms too.  The sea lion mummy below is proud of her almost grown pup. It is almost ready to go into the ocean. Her fat rich milk helped it grow big and plump. She often has to leave the pup for several days to eat.

This mom and pup still has a way to go before its ready to go off into the ocean. These two are resting side by side. The Mom will often doze away while the pup nurses from her.

Unfortunately human babies will never be as adorable as many animal babies and especially Galapagos sea lion pups (also see puppies, kittens, foals, lambs, calves, cygnets, ducklings, kits etc....).  So Happy Mom's Day to our Mom's who tolerate us and raise us baby humans even though we aren't as cute as some species' babies.

The Red Weed

The Galapagos are host to many endemic plants that are not found anywhere else on the world. Only because Galapagos Carpetweed is also found on Mars. Seriously, doesn't it look like the Red Weed in War of the Worlds? Galapagos sea lions find it particularly comfy to rest on. Plaza Island in particular was carpeted with the stuff.

The older (and newer) black volcanic rock sticking up out of the plants made for some striking landscapes and photos. Particularly when the sun came up. It looked like fire in the correct light.

Land iguanas eat the Galapagos carpet weed. It doesn't have leaves like you would expect it to but those thicker stalky things. They are a bit narrower then my little finger but about as long. They provide lots of nourishment and store water kind of like a cactus does.

Mortal Remains

The Galapagos Islands are like Canadian National Parks and others where you cannot remove any flora or fauna and that includes their remains. I really wanted a sealion skull but I was very good and left everything behind. The remains below are of a male which had some neat taphonomy on the caudal verts. A badly healed break. I was happy to give a quick talk about bones as our naturalist did not know as much about their remains as the animal while it was alive so we had a great exchange of info.

Just a comparison shot. The female Galapagos sea lion on the left is dead to the world only in the sense she is fast asleep and oblivious of her prettily bleached compatriot directly to her right. Most bones were not articulated particularily well but these were pretty much were the animal died. The white bones blend into the sand a bit in these photos.

Kind of blech. I prefer my bones a bit cleaner but they got to get that way somehow. This little pup was unlucky. We figured it likely was abandoned and starved to death. Poor thing. By now its probably clean as a whistle like the bones above.

Galapagos Highlight Reel

 Our trip to Ecuador highlight reels will comprise of two videos. The second will feature the Amazon Rain forest. The first is completed and posted here (and on Vimeo) and is all about the Galapagos Islands. It shows some of the unique and rare flora and fauna that is native to the archipelago. Most of the species and landscapes shown have already been featured in other posts. So if there is something that catches your eye check there for more information.

Music: The Porcupine Tree "The Colour of Air"

A Fistfull of Fish

Geordie and I snorkled nearly every day while in the Galapagos. The cold and nutrient rich Humboldt current arriving at the equator encourages plankton development which supports a large variety of tropical and subtropical fish. The visibility was incredibly good most of the time. Since having eye surgery both of us have a better appreciation for what is under the ocean's surface. Especially now that we can see it.
Mexican Hogfish were very common. They have a funny bump on their forhead. We saw these every time we were out. They range to an orangy colour as well. They get pretty big. Two feet long or so.

 Triggerfish came in singles, small groups and very large schools like the one below. It was fun trailing the groups to see where they went. They are quite friendly and allow a pretty close approach. They are somewhat less than a foot long and their yellow tails are very striking.

 Leather Bass were hard to spot most of the time as they liked to be under rocks and in shadowy areas. This one was obliging enough to be against some pinkish rocks which made him stand out. There dappled colouring is very attractive. Each fish has a different pattern.

Land Iguanas

 Large slow moving lizards pretty much sums up the land iguana. Some were almost 5 feet long. Some were quite brilliantly yellow with their mating colours such as this baleful fellow below. Being cold-blooded they casually bask on rocks often letting other animals peck about them and even on top of them. At night they conserve body heat in burrows. The spiky crest that starts at the neck runs to the tail tip.

 The land iguana is endemic to many islands of the Galapagos. The land iguanas have been known to interbreed with marine iguanas creating probably sterile hybrids, particularily on South Plaza island where the species overlap territory. After mating the females travel to sandy areas to make a burrow to lay eggs. Eggs hatch 90-125 days later.

 The land iguanas mostly snacks on plants and cacti like this one having a lunch of carpetweed. They have been known to be opportunistic carnivores, eating insects or carrion. They are a common site on the airport runway at Baltra and often seen crossing roads.

Galaplanets

  Note: Clicking on any of the pictures below will enlarge them.

As you may or may not remember, I got a fisheye lens recently with the specific intent of creating little planet-style panoramas such as the three you can see below. These ones were shot in a different and slightly inferior manner in that they took dozens of smaller pictures to make rather than 7 or so fisheye pictures, and as such there is a lot more distortion in the ground and less sky. Still, they are neat representations of that wonderful and alien landscape.

 Above is the beach at Genovesa island, the last place we visited before returning to the mainland. You can see a frigatebird passing by in the sky and feel the heat coming off the sand. In the lower left there were people swimming with sea lions and the air around us was filled with the calls of nesting birds.

 Above is the top of a lookout near Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz where we had our first excursion. In the right side you can see Kathryn and Jean (our tour leader) scouring the distance for sings of cuckoos or other rare birds. We were at the end of our group and walking along the path that snakes in from the left and exits to the right.

And finally we have a visit to Sombrero Chino, a recent volcanic arrival there was barely any plant life beyond a few settler cacti and some hearty plants. To the lower right you can see the bay where we watched penguins swimming, and at the very bottom you can see the white dot of our boat waiting patiently in the bay for us while to the left the peak of the island raises up.

A Primeval Landscape

We visited the island of Santiago. Part of it was home to very young lava flows. These pahoehoe flows were just over 100 years old as they happened in 1897, mere foetuses in geological terms. Life had barely started returning to this landscape. Some tiny lichen here and there and small pockets of wee lava cacti.

Click on the panorama below to enlarge it.

 The lava flowed had formed tubes, pots and cracks, some of which were quite deep. The lava was such that it looked like it could have solidified yesteday. In parts it was perfectly smooth and shiny. In others it had created ripples where it encountered resistance or began to cool. The warm lava rock was pleasant and soothing to lie on creating a natural massage.

 Within the lava forms were fantastic shapes. With the tiniest bit of imagination the lava comes to life as forms of animals and scenes spring to the eye. I spied an iguana swimming through water in the shape of the lava below.

Galapagos Sea Lion Highlight Reel

The power of cute compels you! It will be very hard not to say 'Awwww' as you watch the highlight reel focusing on the Galapagos Sea Lion. We ended up with so much great footage of them that we felt they deserved their own video. The individuals in the video are from several islands. There are male beach masters, sub adults, females with nursing pups and even a 3 day old pup that still has the umbilical cord.

The Galapagos Sea Lion does not leave the archipelago. They have no predators there which makes them fearless. It is possible to get very close to them but by law you must stay 2 metres away. 

Song is 'A Well Deserved Break' by Morcheeba.

Galapagos Penguins

Penguins are not usually associated with the Ecuator. The icy cold Humboldt Current which flows up to the Galapagos lets penguins find these tropics habitable. We saw our only Galapagos Penguins at Sombrero Chino at Santiago Island. This was a lovely area with crystal clear waters and magnificent lava fields.
Click on the panorama below to enlarge it.

Way off in the distance were spotted a group of 4-6 Galapagos Penguins. These wee fellows were chilling on the lava rocks on shore. They were very difficult to spot without the aid of binoculars. Eventually all but 1 or 2 disappeared under a rock hang or cave.

We were most fortunate to see the fellow below racing through clear shallow waters chasing fish. This one looked to be having a fine old time as he scythed through the shallows of the beach which we were walking. It looked like he was chasing fish. The speed and agility at which he moved was impressive. It was our best sighting of the Galapagos Penguin. Unfortunately it was our only one of such quality.

Cacti of the Galapagos

 Both Geordie and I find cactuses pretty neat. The Galapagos Islands had several species. I really liked the Lava cactus below. They are one of the first things to colonize lava fields hence their name. They grew in clusters and were short. None even came close to knee high. These stubby cactuses were on Santiago Island on a 300 or so year old lava flow.

 Giant prickly pear were flowering while we were there. You can see yellow dots on the specimen below which are the flowers. Mockingbirds and Cactus Finches liked to eat the flowers and fruit. We saw Cactus Finches nesting right in the trunk of the cactus. This type of cactus is kind of strange. When it is young like the one below it looks like that. As it ages (it will more than 100 years old when this happens) it looks more tree like with a bare trunk and all the cactus leaves at the very top. Kind of like palm tree but full of spikes.

 Candelabra cactus are most like the ones you see in the American Southwest. They are named for their branching shape. These also attracted various birds to nest in them. They were common on many islands. This one is on Santa Fe.

The Holy Trinity of Ground Finches

 It is a common though incorrect belief that Darwin's Finches were Charles Darwin's inspiration for his 'Origin of the Species'.  It was actually the Mockingbirds of the Galapagos that begin his train of thought that led him to his theory of natural selection.  Nonetheless Darwin's Finches pose a great identification challenge to the layperson and expert.  Species are very similar like the three below and hybrids occur. Some species do not co-exist on the same island. The species below are the 3 types of Ground Finch that occur in the Galapagos.  They are named not for their body size but for the size of their bill.

 The fellow above is a Large Ground Finch. They are a rather uncommon sight. The bill is massive and great for cracking hard seed cases.  The bill exerts a huge amount of force. This male was poking around a beach on Genovesa.

The Medium Ground Finch above is abundant.  The size of its bill is very variable but not as dainty and pointed as the Small Ground Finch below. Unlike Large Ground Finch the length of the upper mandible is greater than the dept of the bill.  

  

The Small Ground Finch is very common and often feeds on the skin parasites of Galapagos tortoises and land and marine iguanas.  Identification between Small and Medium Ground Finches can be difficult as on some islands beak size is increasing with subsequent generations so Small Ground Finches are becoming Medium Ground Finches. This change is observable in DNA, thus natural selection can be seen both at the molecular level and in the beak changes of these birds.  So nay sayers who say that it is impossible to directly observe natural selection are wrong.

The Beluga

 During our 8 days in the Galapagos Islands we stayed aboard the MY Beluga. It has a crew of 8 and can hold 16 for a total capacity of 24.  Our total was 21. It is about 35 years old and in lovely condition.  It is a small Yacht with a dining/ social area, a sun deck on the back and an open bow.  It is small enough that it can feel chop. I have never been bothered by sea sickness and get my sea legs pretty quickly. Geordie was bothered just a little but there were some on board that were hitting the dramamine pretty heavily and feeding the fishes.

 The rooms were small but very nice. Ours was about midship on the port side. We had a port hole in the bedroom and one in the shower.  All the closets had special fasteners to hold them shut or open when the ship rolled. One night after we were underway in rough seas I thought a bit more roll and I was going to fall off the bed! I got used to it quickly and for days after we departed the boat I felt the roll of the ship.  It took almost a week for it to go away.

 Below is a panoramic photograph of the dining area and common social area. The kitchen and access to the sundeck is on the far right. On the far left are stairs going down to some bedrooms including ours.  The sofas were a good place to lounge after the sun had gone done and have a beer or glass of wine and look in their excellent supply of nature books. You can see the beautiful wood and brass detailing which gives this ship so much character and charm. It was a pleasure to stay on and would certainly recommend a smaller boat over one of the huge Cruise Ships which hold 100- 3000 people.

 Click on the panorama above to enlarge it.

Wild Tortoises

We saw tortoises in a few places in our adventures on the island of Santa Cruz. Both in the Darwin Research Centre (which we'll cover another time) and roaming wild in the highlands of the island. Since 90% of the island is still designated as a park and not to be cultivated or interfered with, this gives the tortoises a good degree of freedom, and while you'd think that being a slow moving creature the size of a boulder would make you obvious as well, they do tend to blend in a bit at the roadside as you can see below.

Our group had a scheduled visit to a ranchers field which is particularly popular with these wild tortoises, to the extend that in an area of perhaps a few football fields we were fortunate enough to see at least 40 of these peaceful creatures going about their lives. There were a number of pools and wallows which they seemed to enjoy quite a bit as you can see below.

 

But they were also thick on the ground out in the open where they were placidly grazing and you could get right up to them. If they felt threatened they would emit a sighing hiss and slowly retract into their shells like the one pictured below is in the process of doing.

Tortoises were right at the top of my list of amazing things to see in the Galapagos and I was not in any way disappointed with our encounter. These gentle giants are breathtaking to see in the flesh and I feel incredibly fortunate that they are flourishing as well as they are for future generations to enjoy. They were heavily hunted by pirates and sailors back in the day, but careful conservation and a top-notch breeding program and helping to make them a modern success story.

Blue-Footed Boobies

                                                                 BOOBIES!!!
Right! Know that I have all you pervs' attention, I can natter about blue-footed boobies.  These guys are adorable with big blue feet.  Males and females make highly different vocalizations.  To attract a female the male emits a high piping noise and dances. The female has a more gutteral voice.
   

  They have the rather super human ability of diving head first into the ocean at 100km an hour to fish at depths of up to 25m below the oceans surface.  Why?  Hell if I know.  But apparently the sexual differentiation enables smaller males to fish in shallower waters and larger females to fish in deeper waters. This might help them obtain food from more than one source and raise more than one young successfully!

  

The male has more yellow on its iris than the female. The Blue-footed Booby has permanently closed nostrils made for diving. I believe the one below is a male. The first picture looks like a female.  They breathe through the corners of their mouths. You can see the funny wedge angle of their bill close towards they join of the mandible.  

Galapagos Sea Lions

 The galapagos are home to the endemic galapagos sea lion.  Similar to what we get up here in BC, they have evolved and become smaller and resident to the archipelago.  They have no predators here.  There are no seal eating sharks or transient orcas.  Therefore they are quite at home even when there are humans tromping about. 

 They are so relaxed around humans that in the airport in Quito, there are numerous signs stating that you must keep away from wildlife by at least 2 metres.  So measure that.  It's not a lot so we were able to observe them very closely.  They kept on sleeping, playing, nursing and blorting about while under close observation.  This sweet lady below was napping on a very comfortable bed of carpetweed on South Plaza Island.

 The only ones you had to watch out for was the adult bulls or 'beachmasters' that controlled a section of beach or a harem of 1-6 females. They need a bit more respect. We did watch one idiot tourist get chased though.  If I was in his vicinity instead of on a boat I would have smacked him one (tourist not pinniped).  Sealions in the Galapagos are not tame, docile or friendly by any stretch.  However, when were in the water they would come up close to play abit (more on that later in the video). We were clearly in their element and they knew it.  It was a pleasure to hear the bulls calling and displaying. This fellow was 'Arping' along the shallows.  Presumably in a macho display. It was amazing to swim alongside these fellows that while awkward on land were a torpedo of poetry in the water.