A DREAM COME TRUE, GALAPAGOS 2. ESPAÑOLA, FIRST SEABIRD COLONY
VISIT
Moving on a ship among the islands of the Galapagos, seabirds are ubiquitous.
Frigatebirds accompany the Cachalote everywhere, with a few usually sitting in
the rigging. Storm petrels are a common sight all day: some places the
Wedge-rumped Petrels, with their extensive white rumps and short tails,
dominate, other places Elliott's Storm Petrel , more fluttering, a bit smaller
and with a narrower white rump band. Boobies and brown Pelicans are around
practically everywhere inshore, as are the opportunistic Common Noddies, and
most harbours have a Laughing Gull or two.
The first chance to meet all these seabirds 'at home' came during our stop and
walk at Punta Suarez on Española (Hood). This area is primarily famous as the
main nesting ground for the rare Waved Albatross, but these are not present in
February, and we never saw one. There was still enough to see, however. At the
landing site the guide had to shoe away the loafing sea lions, also here
present in large numbers and tame and inquisitive as usual. The marine
igunanas, on the other hand, more colourful here than on most other islands, do
not care about people either way; to them we hardly seem to exist. An
oystercatcher had one small chick; it can't be all that easy to protect such
chicks from the cavorting and rolling sea lions!
A group of the irrepressibly cheeky and curious Hood Mockingbirds came out to
meet us, hoping, apparently, primarily for water, very much at a premium on
this bone dry island. A well signposted path led to the outer coast, where the
large black and white Nazca Boobies nest. These have no fixed nesting season,
so chicks of all ages are present, from fluffy white small chicks to brown,
blue-eyed youngsters almost ready to fly. The smaller and sleeker Blue-footed
Boobies with their ridiculously blue feet had only recently arrived. The colour
of the feet, by the way, varied a lot in intensity between individuals; very
blue feet may well be a sign of blooming health and therefore selected for by
the females. The birds were in the initial stages of courtship, with much
slapping and displaying of the blue feet, and now and then a full spread of the
wings, with 'sky-pointing'of the head and bill.
The outer rim of the island is a low cliff, and here lots of Audubon's
Shearwaters apparently nest in crevices; they wheeled around in tight flocks,
but the cliff sides were rarely watchable. Red-billed Tropicbirds flew in wide
circles, often in pairs or trios, always easy to spot becuase of their long
drawn trilling calls. They must be among the most beautiful seabirds of all!
And the rare and nocturnal Swallow-tailed Gulls, surely one of the most elegant
gulls in the world, were whiling away the days at the nesting sites. Also here
some courtship and mating were observed.
The great wonder of it all is that all these birds seemingly og on unconcerned
with their activities, undisturbed by the daily dosis of gawking tourists.
Fortunately Española is a bit outside the 'inner circuit', so gets fewer people
than the central islands.
Wim
Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
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