Pictures from our fourteenth day on the Galápagos islands.
Espumilla Bay
They say there are ghost crabs, here.
Ghost crabs are very attentive
Their eye stalks are always watching for movement
If they spot you, they disappear into their holes
And if they're cut off, they'll run towards the water and dig new holes!
Ghost crabs feeding
They collect sand using their pincers, extract the organic particles using their mandibles, and discard the rest
Look at the ghost crabs, feeding
They are very shy and seeing them like this takes a lot of patience and quiet sitting
The crabs are easy to spot in the distance
As you approach, however, they all disappear into their holes!
Blue-footed booby spotted some fish…
Blue-footed booby looking like a missile about to hit a target!
Blue-footed booby hitting the water at up to 100km/h
Espumilla Bay, looking in the other direction
Alex, taking pictures of blue-footed boobies hunting
The guidebook says: black and button mangroves…
But I'm not sure. What do you think?
Ghost crabs leaving discarded sand behind
They ate all the organic particles they could find, the rest remains as balls of sand
Ghost crabs like to be close to the water
But they don't want to be in the water, just close!
Clearly a green sea turtle must have laid her eggs up here
Chelonia mydas in action, once again. And we arrived too late, once again.
No investigating of the eggs!
Somewhere down there those little tiny turtles are developing. So cute!
Looks like a truck drove into the sea
But Alex is taking about 300 pictures of blue-footed boobies dive-bombing!
Blue-footed boobies are hard to catch as they race towards the water
Hard to believe how silly they look on land
The brown pelican is also about to dive bomb into the water
Claudia and Alex in the ship's kitchen
Machine room!
Whatever machines these are! It looks very machine. I'm a biologist, as you can tell.
Claudia and the mangroves
Button mangroves? I can't tell.
The lava coast line of Puerto Egas
Tuff cliffs.
Haematopus palliatus
American oystercatcher
Surprise discovery!
I don't like big animals…
OK, these sea lions are cute!
Happy happy
Ardea herodias
Great Blue Heron
Land iguana munching
Wonderful coastline
A nice walk
Pools for sea lions
Grapsus grapsus grabbing the lava
Water boiling up from laval tunnels below
Water draining away into laval tunnels below
As if the earth is breathing
Nyctanassa violacea
Looks like the yellow-crowned night heron
The heron is looking into your soul and judging you
Striated heron
Butorides striata
Lava coastline
Sunset on the lava
More lava
Even more lava
Sunset is coming
The last marine iguana arrives from the cold waters
Interesting tuff formation
Crabs (or should I say: Grabs?) enjoying the sunset
The crabs like to be close to the water
VERY close to the water!!
Red rock crabs chilling on the tuff
Spot the land iguana!
Oyster catcher parents and chick
The little one is examining stuff by putting it in his mouth. A familiar reaction…
Oystercatcher family
"Your head is upside down!!"
One American yellow warbler to another
Dendroica petechia aureola
What a surprise find!
They hunt for insects among the lava
The guidebook says their song is beautiful
I'm amazed I was able to take so many wonderful pictures
These feathers in the sun…
… so beautiful it makes me cry
No album without marine iguana basking in the evening sun
Wonderful layering of the volcanic ash
Galápagos fur seal, scratching itself like a cat
And a dozen red rock crabs
There's that Galápagos fur seal on its rock
Young sea lion in the water
Saying hi!
Sea lions, red rock crabs, and a marine iguana slowly climbing the cliff
Mocking birds, mocking us
Alex & Claudia
Sunset
