The Birds

The magnificent frigate birds and the great frigate birds inhabit these islands and follow boats for hours with hardly any flapping of their wings.  We learned that they don't dive for fish like other sea birds, but steal from those that do.   So they float high above the water and watch for a booby (We'll get to those next.) that has caught a fish.  When that happens, they chase it, bite its tail so it squawks, and then dip under the bird to catch the falling fish.   It seems too complex, but we did see this happen.

<< Anyway, here is a male frigate with his inflated red throat working to attract a female.   We were about 20 yards away.

We saw two two kinds of boobies: the blue-footed boobies and the Nazca boobies.  These birds make long vertical dives into the water to fish--it was fun to watch them fish, but more thrilling to walk right up to them in their nesting areas.  They were unconcerned about us.

These Nazca boobies groom each other over their chick. >>

Their bare ground nests are marked by a circle of excrement.

<< On one of our dinghy rides, we saw these blue-footed boobies artfully arranged on a cliff. 

<< Two Nazca boobies and a Christmas iguana on the rocks.   We'll get to iguanas later.

Swallow-tailed gulls choose various sites for a nest locations.  These beautiful gulls are nocturnal feeders.  We learned that their red eye-ring helps lure prey in the water. 

A brown noddy shares the rocks with crabs.

A pair of oyster catchers marches down the beach.

A Galapagos mockingbird has a curved bill.  There are several mockingbirds endemic to the islands.