Category Archives: Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Tortoise in the Wild

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Galapagos Tortoise in the Wild

Galapagos Tortoise in the Wild

The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise and 13th-heaviest living reptile, reaching weights of over 400 kg (880 lb.) and lengths of over 1.8 meters (5.9 ft). With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates.

If you enlarge this image, the designs on the shell are interesting.

Galapagos Birds – Red-footed Booby with Brown Morph

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Galapagos Birds - Red-footed Booby with Brown Morph

Galapagos Birds – Red-footed Booby with Brown Morph

The brown morph of the red-footed booby is overall brown. The white-tailed brown morph is similar, but has a white belly, rump, and tail. The white-headed and white-tailed brown morph has a mostly white body, tail and head, and brown wings and back.

Galapagos Birds – Red-footed Booby Portrait

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Galapagos Birds - Red-footed Booby Portrait

Galapagos Birds – Red-footed Booby Portrait

Smallest of the boobies, the red-foot feeds at sea, nests on the ground, and perches in coastal trees. Red-footed boobies appear in a variety of color morphs but, of course, all have feet of the distinctive red color which gives them their name.

Galapagos Birds – Nazca Boobies

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Galapagos Birds - Nazca Boobies

Galapagos Birds – Nazca Boobies

Galapagos Birds - Nazca Booby Protecting her Egg

Galapagos Birds – Nazca Booby Protecting her Egg

Nazca Booby Birds are the largest of all the boobie birds on the Galapagos Islands.

Nazca Booby Birds lay two eggs, several days apart from which only one chick survives due to a practice called ‘obligatory sibling murdering’. In this process, one of the chicks displaces the other by taking most of the food, therefore growing faster. Once that has been achieved, the larger chick kicks the smallest and weakest chick out of the nest, leaving it to die of thirst or cold. The parent Nazca Booby Birds will not intervene and the younger chick will inevitably die.

It is believed that two eggs are laid so that one remains an insurance in case the other gets destroyed or eaten e.g. by gulls, or the chick dies soon after hatching.

2013 in Review with Sincere Appreciation

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 56,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Galapagos Tortoise

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Galapagos Tortoise

Galapagos Tortoise

The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise and 13th-heaviest living reptile, reaching weights of over 400 kg (880 lb) and lengths of over 1.8 meters (5.9 ft). With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates.

Galapagos Birds – Blue-footed Booby

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Galapagos Birds - Blue-footed Booby

Galapagos Birds – Blue-footed Booby

The blue-footed booby is easily recognizable by its distinctive bright blue feet, which is a sexually selected trait. Males display their feet in an elaborate mating ritual by lifting their feet up and down while strutting before the female.

The name booby comes from the Spanish word bobo (‘stupid’, ‘fool’, or ‘clown’) because the Blue-footed Booby is, like other seabirds, clumsy on land. They are also regarded as foolish for their apparent fearlessness of humans.

Galapagos Birds – Blue-footed Booby Baby

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Galapagos Birds - Blue-footed Booby Baby

Galapagos Birds – Blue-footed Booby Baby

The Blue-footed Booby is a marine bird in the family Sulidae, which includes ten species of long-winged seabirds. First studied extensively by Charles Darwin, it belongs to the genus Sula, which comprises six species of boobies.

Galapagos Birds – Short-eared Owl

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Galapagos Birds - Short-eared Owl

Galapagos Birds – Short-eared Owl

The Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) is wide-spread and more common in the archipelago, and more frequently seen — especially in the seabird colonies of Genovesa island. It hunts by day as well as night, its diet overlapping that of the Galápagos hawk and barn owl though their feeding times usually differ.

Here is a shot from far, but zoomed in and enlarged to reveal the unique colors and piercing eyes.

Galapagos BIrds – Heron

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Galapagos Birds - Galapagos (Lava) Heron

Galapagos Birds – Galapagos (Lava) Heron

The Lava Heron, also known as the Galapagos Heron, is a species of heron endemic to the Galapagos Islands. The adult is slate-grey, which helps it blend in with the hardened lava. The back feathers typically have a silvery sheen and it has a short crest on its head.

Galapagos Birds – Mockingbird

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Galapagos Birds - Mockingbird

Galapagos Birds – Mockingbird

The Galápagos Mockingbird is easily spotted due to its feathers which are streaked brown and gray, long tail, and smaller size, and black, angled beak. The bird has a darker color than other mockingbirds on the islands causing it to blend in with the coral sand of the islands that it mainly inhabits.