This morning's landing featured a welcoming party of sea lions followed by a visit to a nesting colony of magnificent and red frigate birds.
This was interesting to observe because the male red frigate has a huge bright red pouch like a balloon that he fills with air and then beats out a rhythm with his beak to attract a mate. It was all rather comical.
There were lots of cute chicks in the nests with their fluffy white heads and we also saw some iconic blue footed boobies including one that was standing over a bright blue egg.
We learned how to determine the sex of the blue footed boobie by the pupil (females have fully dialated pupils that make them attractive and males have pin point pupils).
Each day Richard shares a wealth of information about the flora, fauna, history and much more. Today we had a lecture on “arrival, establishment and reproduction” which explained to us how so many endemic species arose in the Galapagos in such a short (geologically speaking) time of 3 million years. Most reptiles arrived by floating out on the currents and surviving for 3-6 weeks without water and with limited food. Very few if any mammals could make the journey from the coast of Ecuador over 500 miles away so the islands are mostly populated by reptiles and birds. Seeds came both through the air and in the stomachs of birds. Each species needed to achieve three criteria to survive: 1. Arrive in the islands 2. Establish shelter, food and water 3. Reproduce.
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| Blue footed booby with its blue egg! |
Our last snorkel gave us the best chance to see hammerhead sharks so we set off in rough seas and dropped into the water in 4-6 foot swells. It is amazing how easy it is to snorkel when the sea is rough - you wouldn’t imagine that the sea is actually quite calm just a few feet below the surface. We saw our final sea turtles, some great schools of fish but alas, no hammerhead sharks, only white tipped reef sharks laying peacefully in a sandy spot amongst the boulders. Guess we will just have to come back again for the hammerheads!
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