Blue Footed Boobies

While I have a real affinity for the land iguanas, and the penguins are cute, these birds are just so much fun to watch I have decided they are my favorite Galapagos animal. It’s an amazing site to see 200 or more of these birds dive in unison into very shallow water from as high as 45 feet in the air, then quickly pop up to the surface as if their bodies are made of cork. The blue footed booby can dive into water as shallow as one half a meter.







The air sacs in the skull of boobies in general help to cushion the impact of these high speed controlled crashes into the water. They can also close their nostrils to keep out the sea water.



Like many birds, the females are larger than the males, and the pupils in the eyes of the females are larger than those of the males as well. Our guide Javier, told us many eventually go blind as they age due to damage to the eyes from the impact into the water.

The name booby is derived from the Spanish word “bobo” which means fool or clown. During courtship they do appear clownish as they walk around raising one, then the other blue foot in the air.



Blue footed boobies breed when resources are available. The female lays up to four eggs, about 3-5 days apart. This is not an uncommon strategy among birds. If food resources are limited usually the oldest chick will survive, if there is plenty of food the younger ones may as well. They eggs are incubated on the feet of the adults, and a guano nest is made when hatching occurs after about 40 days of incubation.
One of the instructors of the class (a herpetologist by the way) and I had an ongoing discussion about birds being just a branch of the reptiles. While I understand the relationship between birds and reptiles, I maintained birds are deserving of their own class since they are different from reptiles in important anatomical and physiological ways. However, that chick looks a bit reptilian even to me.

Galapagos Penguins

These penguins are endemic to the Galapagos, which means they are only found in the Galapagos. These small penguins are the northern most penguins and have adapted to warmer land temperatures than their more southerly relatives.

These penguins were photographed on the island of Isabela. Sadly, in a census done in 2006 there were only about 2,100 of these unique birds found. They are the only penguin listed as endangered. Their population was drastically reduced by the impact of the El Nino in 1997-98.

For more information on this amazing species of bird go to http://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/library/resources/fact-sheets and click on Galapagos penguins.

Darwin's Finches

Ahhh! I should be getting ready for the camping trip, but I can't stay away from these photos. OK, these are the last ones until I get back from Utah. These are both Darwin's finches, but two different species. One is the small ground finch, and the other is the medium ground finch. Can you tell which is which? They are similar in size and plumage. Check out the beaks.

Dos Mas

The tropic bird photo was taken from the top of a cliff of lava on San Cristobal Island. They were gliding by almost at eye level. In the same area there were blue footed boobies, swallow tailed gulls, and frigate birds. On the walk out to the area we walked by marine iguanas.



On North Seymour Island we saw nesting frigate birds and blue footed boobies. This frigate bird chick has to be one of the fuzziest living things I have ever seen. It looks like someone went nuts with a glue gun and cotton balls.

One more photo

This photo was taken on San Cristobal near the hotel were we stayed. The birds are Darwin's finches, and I think there are both medium and small ground finches on the sign.

More Animals

This Vermilion Flycatcher was in the highlands of Isabela. We spotted it as we drove toward the Sierra Negra Volcano.


The male blue footed booby in the foreground of the photo is doing his best to impress the female. She wasn't buying it however, and just continued to preen her feathers.



If I had to be a lizard, this is the one I would be. This is a male land iguana I photographed on the Island of North Seymour. This lizard is now a favorite animal of mine.



The marine iguanas are interesting animals as well, but I am much more captivated by the land iguanas.