Pictures from our seventh day on the Galápagos islands.
Red-footed booby
After seeing so many boobies on the ground it's surprising to see them perched on branches.
Swallow-tailed gull
Remember, these gulls hunt at night to escape the predation of the frigatebirds.
Opuntia flowers
The land iguanas like to eat these as they fall off the cactus.
Nazca booby resting
Waiting for the tourists to go away, I presume.
The brown variant of the red-footed booby
Apparently, there are both brown and white variants of the red-footed bobbies.
Brown variant of the red-footed booby with juvenile
Strange to see all the dirt and feathers sticking to the chick's beak.
Red-footed boobies on red magroves
These can only be seen on Genovesa. This island is flat and dry.
Red-footed boobies nest on trees
Their nests are further appart than the nests of nazca boobies and blue-footed boobies.
Mockingbird on opuntia cactus
Male frigatebird
Frigatebird laying an egg!!
Our guide freaked out when he saw this. I freaked out, too!
Red mangrove growing on rock
A mangrove propagule may float in brackish water for over a year before rooting. They are viviparous, giving birth to living trees!
Lava heron
Out hunting.
Tide pools
The ship set anchor at Darwin Bay, the only place where tourists are allowed to get off.
Claudia
Some kind of Sandpiper?
Alex & Claudia
Next up: a short panga ride to Prince Philip's Steps
Arctocephalus galapagoensis
The Galápagos fur seal was nearly extinct but managed a recovery since the 1950s.
Brown pelican
Sharing the same rocks as the fur seals.
Fur seals have bigger ears than sea lions
They also have a shorter face than sea lions.
Fur seals are good climbers
They have stronger flippers than sea lions.
Fur seals also have a thicker fur, hence the name
They also have a thicker neck than sea lions.
Baby Booby
I can't help it. They don't look very cute.
Nazca booby
As we move from the top of Prince Philip's Steps to the lava plateau, we move through a nazca booby colony.
Nazca booby pair
Nazca boobies have a black "mask" and their feet are neither red nor blue.
Booby juvenile
They are brown.
Male frigatebird
The frigatebirds need the red-footed boobies to fetch their fish. Sometimes as little as 5% of their chicks survive.
Nazca booby
As we cross over to the outer side, we pass more birds.
Nazca booby with kid
Further back you see boobies in the trees. Those are probably red-footed boobies.
El Barranco
We climbed Prince Philip's Steps and crossed over to the lava plateau.
Another male frigatebird
It still surprises me that the frigate birds and the boobies live in such close proximity.
A nazca booby family
The frigate birds don't only try to steal the fish destined for the chicks, sometimes they even take the chicks themselves.
The lava plateau
This region is the breeding ground for the local storm petrels.
Mocking bird
What is it looking at?
The storm petrels are prey for the short-eared owl
The owl lives in these cracks and eats the storm petrels here, out of sight, in order to not scare away the other storm petrels.
Can you spot the owl?
The guides seemed to know two nests and we found the owl of the second nest. It was pretty drowsy.
The owl is a diurnal hunter on Genovesa
Wherever the Galápagos hawk is missing, the owls are no longer nocturnal, preferring to hunt during the day.
On the way back, more nazca boobies
The owls live in cracks like these
Family life continues
Seeing all these large birds from close by is what makes visiting the Galápagos islands such a special experience.
The sun is going down
Time to go.
Time to head back to the ship
The sun is setting and the birds are harder to spot.
Watching the sun set
Time to leave Genovesa
Another day has come to an end, here in the Galápagos.
