Creatures with Wings

I'm not a bird lover. Although my mom has had them as pets in the house before.
The most recent one "Goo" suffered heat stroke when he/she (never figured it out) was left unattended in the car during my parents' move to California. They did, however, remember to take the dog out for a walk around the lake, so no harm done there. By the time my parents realized that the bird was left alone in the sizzling car, Goo was a goner. RIP.

Anyways, bird-watching is a big component of any Galapagos tour. I’d estimate around 30%. Random figure.

Luckily, I was able to see the two most famous Galapagos birds during the first couple nature walks. I don’t know which one is more representative of the region...

1. Frigates – The ones with the big red pouch at the neck. As with many bird species, the males get all the color/pizzazz/funk! The pouch blows up like a balloon during courtship to attract the females. Didn’t realize how large these birds can get before seeing them in real.

2. Blue Footed Boobies – My FAVORITE!!! Only because they look sooooooooo clumsy and dumb : ) The blueness of their feet come in all different shades. This is one of the lighter ones.

The boobies are actually quite ugly close up, but adorable from afar. Especially when they walk, somewhere between a penguin and a duck. During one of my walks, I was able to see two boobies doing a courtship dance. Cute, cute, cute. One really follows the other like in this photo. Wish I had taken a video. Argh.

I didn’t see any red footed boobies during my cruise. I think they reside in some of the more remote islands that wasn’t on my itinerary.

I did, however, go to an island full of the Nazca boobies. Espanola Island, me thinks.

Not as cute as the blue footed ones, but the highlight here were the nesting chicks. Fluffy as a cotton ball!

(Nonetheless, I do think their beaks and eyes are scary weapons)
We had to walk through a few of these mother/chick nests (since straying off-course is a no-no on the islands!). No touching, but very close. It was surprising how the moms remained calm and didn’t attack any encountering humans to protect their babies. Only in the Galapagos can animals live without fearing the evil humans...

On one of the last islands on our cruise path, we sailed past the rare Galapagos penguins.

I always thought that penguins were cold climate animals, but here they were right at the equator! Interesting.
Or maybe they were supposed to swim further south towards the cold, but forgot or got left behind for some reason.... explaining why there were only two of them around. Who knows.

And then there were the usual pelicans, albatrosses, and finches. Well, the latter may not be so usual (hence, termed the Darwin finches) but they didn’t catch my attention too much. Small and quick-flying, they sort of looked like any other finch I’ve seen elsewhere.

Oh, and here’s a dead one (albatross, frigate, something else?!?!?!?) to end this entry.