Scenes from Isabela Island

Isabela Island is my favorite of the islands we visited while in the Galapagos. The sand on the beach was the texture of baby powder, and the water was warm. The tide pool at the beach just outside the hotel had damsel fish and small puffer fish in it.

We stayed at Casa de Marita which was a great place right on the beach.






While on Isabela we also took taxis to the highlands to see several volcanos. Danielle, (the woman on the left in this photo) and I were in the back of a taxi that had room for a couple of more people so we were joined by these two guys. I think the older guy in the middle said his name was Calvin. They seemed a bit odd, and both Danielle and I were relieved when they took a different taxi back at the end of the day.

Galapagos Sea Lions

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The sea lion is one of the animals one first notices in the Galapagos. The young ones are especially curious and playful. They often approached us when we were snorkeling, and pulled at our fins. On one occasion a pup bit several people in the class while we were swimming. This endemic seal lion is most closely related to the California sea lion. The Galapagos sea lion is smaller than the California sea lion, but males can still weight as much as 250 kilograms (550 pounds). Females are smaller, and by comparing the photos below, you should be able to see other obvious differences.

Sea lions eat fish and squid, and may travel far out to sea to hunt. Sea lions also spend a good amount of time resting on sandy beaches.
Females typically give birth to one pup, and may still be caring for an older pup when the newest is born. There is competition between the two, and sometimes the younger one dies.
Sea lions breed annually, but gestation is only 9 months. Implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus is delayed. About three weeks after giving birth, the female is ready to breed again, but the fertilized egg only divides a few times, then stops development and does not implant in the uterus for two months or so.
Female sea lions live about 20 years, and males a bit less. Males compete with each other for sandy beach territories, and the beach master does not feed while defending his territory. Because of this, any given male is not a beach master for longer than a couple of months. Compare the female in the picture above, with the male below. What differences do you see?

The beach master mates with the females that choose to use his beach, but females are free to move from his territory to another if they find him unsuitable. Males are much more aggressive than the females and defend their territories vigorously by first barking above and below the water. I was warned away from a territory in this manner while snorkeling and quickly swam away. No need to argue with a 500 pound animal.:)
El Nino events have had a negative impact on the populations of Galapagos sea lions. During the El Nino event of 1997-98 their population numbers feel 48%. Some simply left, but there was also high mortality. 90% of those born in 1997 died, and 67% of the dominant males died of starvation. In 1979 there were about 50,000 sea lions in the Galapagos. A survey done in 2001, found an estimated 14,000-16,000 animals. Since then some recovery has occurred, with a more recent survey finding an estimated 16,000-18,000.
For more information about sea lions, and other Galapagos organisms you can visit the website of the Darwin Foundation at: http://www.darwinfoundation.org/

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 Blue

Angela, one of the instructors of the class, called the color of the water in the ocean around the islands Galapagos Blue. I think this photo demonstrates what she meant.

Land Iguanas

Ah, now these big boys are Lizards! Land iguanas can get as large as one meter long and weigh as much as 13 kg. The marine iguanas may be specialized for an ocean going lifestyle, but for some reason these lizards capture my interest more. Look at the scale patterns on the faces of the males in the photos below. I think they are just beautiful.


In the photo below you can see the marked sexual dimorphism between the male and females. The female is darker and smaller than the male.
There are two species of land iguanas endemic to the Galapagos. One species ( Conolophus pallidus) is only found on the island of Santa Fe, and the other, ( Conolophus subcristatus), is more widespread.

The adults eat the cactus pads of the Opuntia cactus, and juveniles eat insects, and even finch nestlings. The normal lifespan for these iguanas is over 60 years.

When Darwin arrived in 1835 he remarked that he had trouble pitching a tent because there were so many iguana burrows. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. There may be as many as 10,000 individuals of C. subcristatus left in the Galapagos. Introduced animals such as cats, dogs, rats, and pigs along with human activity have taken a toll on these large lizards.

Marine Iguanas

An odd condition on the Galapagos is that reptiles are more common than mammals. This is not the case in most areas of the world. The ancestors of the reptiles found today on the Galapagos were hardy enough to make it across 600 miles of ocean from the South American mainland aboard rafts of vegetation. Mammals and amphibians for the most part did not survive such direct exposure to the sun, and could not survive as reptiles did, with out water for weeks on end.

Perhaps the ancestor of the land and marine iguanas was similar to this green iguana found in Ecuador.


Marine iguanas forage on red and green algae. Young iguanas and females don’t venture too far off the rocky coast, but males can forage to depths of 10 meters. Being ectotherms they walk a tight rope between feeding the in cold water and staying warm enough to actively feed and digest their algae salads. The body temperature of the male iguanas can drop as much as 10 degrees Celsius while they are foraging. They are much larger than the females, with some males weighing as much as 10kg.



The animals I saw spent a great deal of time basking in the sun. The young iguanas like those below clustered in areas away from the adults.


These iguanas are the only ones in the world who forage in the ocean, and as you can imagine they consume a great deal of salt in their diet. To rid their bodies of this salt they blow it out their nose from salt glands behind their eyes. They have the most efficient salt glad of any reptile, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the salt gland found in ocean going birds was more advanced. :) Take a look at the nostrils of the iguana in the photo below. The slight tube shape helps them expel the salt. The sneezing noise they make as they excrete salt is the only noise these lizards make.


Their dark color helps them absorb heat, and is great camouflage. There are numerous marine iguanas in the photo below. How many do you see?


El Nino events can raise the water temperature from a normal temperature of 18 to 32 degrees Celsius. This kills the algae upon which these iguanas feed, and can cause their populations to crash. During times of extreme starvation these animals can reabsorb bone and actually shrink in size to survive.

More Galapagos Birds

I photographed both of these birds on the Island of Floreana. Late in the afternoon while walking along a trail to the Loberia, I suddenly found myself surrounded by a whirlwind of bird activity. The yellow warblers and Galapagos flycatchers were so close I had to back up to get these photographs.

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.

Circle of Friends

We found this pictograph near Escalante Utah after one of my camping buddies saw a T-shirt with the image of this rock art on the shirt. He asked if it was from the area, and where it was. After an unsuccessful search at first, we asked again and with some luck and patience found it. The spots next to it are thumb and finger prints. I am not sure at all which culture may have produced it, but a day or so later we were talking with a Navajo man who said he thought rock art of people in a circle represented family members. This is not my photograph since I couldn't find any memory cards, and thought I had left them at home. Finally, at the end of the trip I found them.

Sin Palabras- No words

There are no words to adequately describe the Grand Canyon, or the feelings it evoked as I stood on the edge, no barrier separating me from the Canyon. There are no words to describe the sunset we saw from Cape Royal. We spent the last two nights of our trip at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon sleeping outside under the stars made brighter by moonless nights.

There are also no words to describe the absolute silence we found along the Hole in the Rock road outside of Escalante as we returned from hiking in Spooky Canyon , Peek a Boo, and the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch. Silence. No buzzing insects, certainly no cars or planes, not even the wind was blowing.

It's for moments like these that we humans need wild places.

Off to Utah

Alright! I am off, along with two, and later three, friends to the wilds of Utah. Into the land of Turkey Vultures, and Peregrines, and maybe once again this year California Condors? Into Spooky Gulch, Brimstone Canyon, the Devils Playground, Calf Creek, Death Hollow, and of course the red rock canyon of the Escalante River. I'll think of you all as I'm laying on a sandy beach of the river looking up at the Escalante Arch and inside a nearby alcove a structure built when? 1,000 years ago? Who knows?

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.

The group

It occurred to me, some of you might like to see the group of students I was with in the Galapagos. Here's a group picture taken the last night we were in Ecuador.

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.

Street lights on Isabela

This man turns off the street lights on the Island of Isabela in the Town of Punta Villamil. I noticed him early in the morning as I walked to the lagoon in town that had flamingos.

A few photos

Hi All,
I've had a little time to work on a few photos. I'll have to put together a DVD of the Galapagos photos like I did with the Tanzania photos, but that project will have to wait until I return from a camping trip to So. Utah. Enjoy the photos. These first few are of the feeding frenzy I wrote about in an earlier post.

Last post from the Galapagos :(

Hi all,
I can´t believe this wonderful adventure is almost over. Tomorrow morning we drive across Santa Cruz Island for a short ferry ride to Baltra to the airport. It seems like a long time ago that we stood at the airport and got our first look at the Islands, but I would be glad to stay longer.

Today we went to North Seymour Island and walked by Blue Footed Boobies with baby boobies! The chicks are fluffy white, and older ones are grey. We also saw male land iguanas and believe me they look muy macho! They are beautiful big animals in shades of yellows and orange and black. The females are much smaller, and not as colorful. There were also frigate birds nesting in small trees. The males puff out a large red pouch to impress the ladies. The chicks were also fluffy, but white and black. This is the dry season here, so the trees did not have leaves, giving the island a ghostly appearence.

After jumping back onto the panga off some rocks to get off the island, we were treated to a great lunch on the boat then went snorkeling to a beautiful white sandy beach from the boat. There were alot of sea cucumbers, Mexican hogfish, and another large school of yellow tailed surgeon fish on the snorkel from the boat to the beach. Right around the boat were big puffer fish. We went to the beach area instead of near Seymour Island because there were four Galapagos sharks swimming right around the boat when we returned from the island.

We just had our final dinner together as a group. This is the best class I have ever taken. For those of you who know Matt Covill, the professor for this class, Kevin Bonine, could be Matt´s brother. They look similar and have similar personalities, levels of energy and enthusiasm, and they are both into lizards. I know, I know, lizards you are asking? Why lizards? Well it takes all kinds in Biology, and I guess there is room in biology for lizard people as well as bird people. After all, I suspect the lizard people may just be bird people with feather envy. :)

Tomorrow we fly to the mainland and then have a very late flight out to Houston. The adventure is coming to an end for now.
Connie

Galapagos update

Hola Mi Amigos,
We are back in Santa Cruz, but spent one night on Floreana, and four nights in the paradise of Isabela. The hotel on Isabela was on the beach, and what a beach it was. The sand was the texture of baby powder. There was an amazing sandy bottomed tide pool on the beach with damsel fish, little puffer fish that came up and nibbled on my feet, and small schools of other fish I didn´t recognize.

I was able to do two night snorkels in a lagoon surrounded by mangroves. Huge sea cucumbers and brittle stars were out, along with many sea hares. Not many fish at night, but it was just fun being in the water at night with a full moon shining down.

Muy tranquilo!

At one spot during the day it was warm enough to snorkel without a wet suit and that was a great exerience. I was able to more easily dive down to see an incredible array of fish. Amazing fish! Rainbow parrot fishes, wrasses, hogfish. At one point we got chased away by a large male sea lion, but he just barked at us underwater, and did not chase us as we quickly swam away.

On the way to Santa Cruz we stopped to snorkel at an area called the four brothers. There was a large cave I swam into and at the mouth of the cave were thousands of fry- tiny tiny fish. I swam back until I couldn´t see anything and when I turned around to swim out was greated by the most beautiful blue green as the sun shone on the water at the mouth of the cave.The fan corals there were intense orange and yellow. I swam over at least a dozen porcupine puffer fish. I love the water here!

On Isabel I had the most spectacular experience I have had here, and one of the most intense experiences I have had in nature. At about 4:45 one afternoon I was talking with some fellow classmates on the beach when all of a sudden one of them yelled Boobies ! Hundreds of blue footed boobies flew into area started diving into the water very close to shore. I had my camera and rushed down to the beach where standing in knee deep water I was soon surrounded by an orgy of feeding. Boobies, Frigate birds flying over my head close enough to touch, brown noddies, dozens of pelicans, and sea lions were feeding on fish only a few feet from me. I could smell the boobies I was so close to them. Shortly the boobies stopped diving and were floating on the water and just dipping their beaks into the water to feed. It was a frenzy and I was in the middle of it. Tears came into my eyes as I stood tranfixed by the spectacle.

Paradise on Isabela!

mockingbirds remain rare

Hi Folks,
I finished my mockingbird survey this morning with a 6 Am to 7 AM hunt for the birds. I heard two, but never saw them. I walked uphill out of town for an hour hoping to see some in the neighborhoods. I saw six smooth billed anis, which are an introduced species of bird known to prey on the nestlings and eggs of mockingbirds. I have really enjoyed all the public art around th is town. There are murals at all the schools,and there are at least 4 schools. There are large mosaics and painted plaster statues of tortoises, flamingos,and one that looks like the hulk pulling a fish out of water.
Tomorrow we leave on a 5 hour boat ride on a small boat to Floreana island and it d oes not sound like there is internet there. The settlement there sounds like it is very small. We spend one night there, then onto Isabela. The people here say Isabela is muy bonita, very pretty. We were told to buy snacks for the trip, so I am off to buy more of that wo nderful chocolate bread!
Connie

Beautiful water beautiful day!

Hello All,
I got up early today and found two mockingbirds on my survey. Also saw lots of Darwins finches, yellow warblers, and a couple of the Galapagos fly catchers. After I got back we went snorkeling in clear blue green water. Angela, one of the professors on the trip calls the color of the water Galapagos Blue. It is a different blue than I have ever seen. It is almost a turquoise blue. I saw alot of very colorful fish I couldn´t identify, although I know I saw a couple of parrot fish. There was also a sea turtle resting on the sandy bottom of the bay. The sea lions were not as playful, but it was a great time anyhow.

After lunch I called my dad. It is his birthday today. My mom and dad were surprised to hear from me. The call was only .25 a minute. Before lunch I stopped by the bakery and bought a piece of the most amazing chocolate bread. Yum. It was more like a chocolate roll. The cost? Twenty five cents. I should have gotten more :)

The weather continues to be warm during the day and it cools off at night. I haven´t had to use the air conditioner in the room. Tuesday we are off for other islands.

planting in the rain

This morning we went up to the highlands with older students from the school to El Junco. El Junco is a collapsed caldera that is in need of revegetation with native plants. We planted Miconia plants and took out black berry which has invaded the area. It was very foggy, rainy and cold. Last week we went up to the same area and lucked out as it was clear. Not so today.

Unfortunately the kids were not a all interested in helping and the group I am here with did the vast majority of the work. I´m not sure if no one explained to the kids why this work is important, or they feel this kind of work is beneath them, or they are just lazy but they did nothing. I´ll take the CSP kids at Bolsa Chica over these kids anytime. As soon as they could they ran off into the fog and hid under plants were we couldn´t see them. The kids who were supposed to water the plants after we put them in dumped all their water on a few plants and then ran off with the water bottles so we couldn´t even refill them from the lake at the bottom of the caldera.

Most of the plants got planted with no water, so it was good that it was raining. The kids may have just been modeling their teacher´s behavior because at the end of the morning I noticed none of the teachers were the least bit dirty so it was obvious they had not done any planting or weeding either.
I ended up the morning just feeling bad that the kids and adults we were with were so disinterested in helping this endangered ecosystem on their own island.

At least we made a small difference, although I am not sure how many of the plants we put in will survive. The soil was very easy to dig and there were numerous earthworms in the soil, so if it keeps raining up there some of them might survive. I saw a grasshopper with the biggest jaws I have ever seen. It surprised two of my classmates by giving them a good bite when they picked it up.

Tomorrow is a free day, so I hope to get in some snorkeling. I am going out early in the morning for another mockingbird survey. I am hoping to see more early in the day. We leave San Cristobal on Tuesday for Isabela, Fernandina and Santa Cruz next week.

Plant walk

Well I led the group on a plant walk today. This helped me learn alot about both the native and introduced plants on the islands. Did you know there are now more species of introduced plants on these islands than native plants? Some like guava and quinine have almost completely replaced the native plant communities on some of the inhabited islands.

I was doing a final walk through getting ready for the walk this afternoon, and while I was sitting and looking over my notes, I looked down and there were 6 to 8 ground finches right by my feet. They are every where and very tame. The other afternoon when I was in the internet cafe I looked down and there was a male yellow warbler right by my foot pecking at crumbs on the floor. He was just a couple inches from my foot.

Tomorrow we go to help remove black berry from the El Junco area in the highlands. Sunday is a free day, maybe more snorkeling with the sea lions?

Tuesday we leave San Cristobal for Isabela, Floriana, and Espanola.
Connie

tide pools with kids

Whew! What grand madness! We took about 60 kids ages 8 to 10 or so to the tidepools today. These kids are in a Navy School, and if it was in the US you would expect some regimentation. Maybe the kids would line up and march to the tide pools at least? Nope. It was more like herding cats, 60 of them down a road next to a quarry and then to the beach. Were they excited! We found an octopus, brittle stars, sea slugs and sea hares, and very frightened fish. The sea lions however were unfazed by the frenzy of small mammals running and jumping over rocks and into the tidepools.
I think we got all the kids back to the school. We were going to count them as we started back, but one of the teachers just started walking so they followed...
I did notice that none of their teachers came out into the tidepools with us. Instead they sat on the beach and chatted.

As far as my mockingbird research goes, I haven´t seen any in the natural area where I have been looking. Tomorrow I am going out at 6 AM to see if I have better luck in the morning. The weather reamins pleasant, and the sunsets fantastic. I am glad I have the wetsuiit. When we did our water testing we discovered the water is no warmer than 63 degrees. Brrrr
Connie
Connie

geckos and w a ter quality

Hi,
This morning was another water quality day and last night was gecko hunting. I had a group of four girls with me as we searched the walls and fences of houses near the ocean for geckos. There are at least two introduced species here and one native. We found one gecko, and had a friendly dog following us around for awhile.
This morning we were out in the bay again testing water. We had planned for two boats of kids, but yesterday were asked to make changes to handle three boat loads. I got o n the first skiff this morning,and that turned out to be the only boat that showed up to take students. So f rom three to one. We also got some plankton samples we will look at tomorrow in lab. I have not seen any Chatham mockingbirds. My project is to census the San Cristobal mockingbirds and I will start th atlater today.Since one of the the ohter students and i set up the whole water quality testing procedure we are getting a break f rom counting lava lizards today.

lizard hunting

Today was a day of water testing in the ocean on a little navy skiff and walking across town to count lava lizards. My team had a rather natural area so we found over 40 lizards. I think the students in the class I am in are much more interested in the project than the kids at the navy school however. Kids in my group ducked into shops to buy drinks as we walked around,and collapsed in "exhaustion" on the sidewalk at one point. I am hoping the nightime gecko hunts around the neighborhoods go better.
Connie

School kids tomorrow

Hi All
Today we went and saw where the galapagos tortoises are being hatched and raised in a safe environment until they are old enough that they will not be preyed upon by the feral cats and rats on the island. We also walked to the top of a collapsed caldera called El Junco. Friget birds come and dip their heads in the fresh water lake that has collected in the caldera. This is the only fresh water on the island and is also the source of drinking water for the people on the island.

Tomorrow I start with the local kids. My team is taking on water quality testing in the harbor here. It turns out there is a sewer outfall of untreated sewage into the harbor not far from where we all went snorkeling the first day. Ewwww.

The weather continues to be great.
Connie

Snorkeling with the sharks !

This morning we went out to kicker rock off the coast of San Cristobal to snorkle. We swam through a narrow channel between two pieces of the rock and swarming below us were galapagos sharks! There were multitudes of beautiful fish and we also saw a turtle in the water. On the rock face were bright orange sponges along with anenomes and swarms of fish. Afterwards we went to a beautiful white sand beach to warm up as those of us without the natural insulation I have were cold even with their wetsuits. Next was Lobo Island. Lobo as in sea lions. They were jumping out of the water as we arrived and surrounded us once in the water. I hope I got some good pictures of them. I shot a whole roll of film in the water while playing with the pups and their mothers.

Yesterdays hike was quite challenging as it was over lava rocks, but worth the effort as we saw red billed tropic birds and blue footed boobies and swallow tailed gulls. The walking stick I brought was extreamly helpful as I hopped from rock to rock. On the way back I fell and heard a loud crack. My walking stick snapped in half, but at least it wasn´t my leg....

lTomorrow we head for the highlands on a hike. I am feeling great and was just thinking today this town would be a great place to live.
Connie

San Cristobal

Hello All,
Was it yesterday or the day before I went snorkeling with sea lions? A female came right up to my face mask and blew bubbles at me and then swam off into the green of the ocean. I also saw a sea turtle, and urchins,fish and more beautiful fish ! Tomorow we are going snorkeling again at Kicker Rock where we may be able to see sharks! Later today is a hike where we should be able to see swallow tailed gulls, tropic birds, and more blue footed boobies.

Sea lions sleep steps from our hostel (which does have hot water in the showers at 6 AM and then around 530 PM) Next week is working with school kids in the AM and our research projects in the afternoon. The Chatham mockingbird remains elusive, although there is one I am keeping my eye on.

It has been beautiful here the ocean is a rich blue or green with great visibility. I´m having a great time.

Santa Cruz Island

What is it about 2 AM arrivals. First tanzania now Ecuador. No matter,I am here! We are in Santa Cruz and leaving this morning for San Cristobal. We have been to the darwin research station, and wandered around town, had great food, and seen amazing animals. So far the lava gull has been around the harbor, herons, pelicans, and two species of darwins finches! Marine iguanas, and beautiful sally light foot crabs on the rocks in the harbor! It was a beautiful morning today. We got up at 6 to walk and bird and photograph. The light was amazing. As we arrived via a short ferry ride to Santa Cruz we were greeted by hundreds of blue footed boobies diving for sardines in the bay. Hundreds at a time plunging into the water was a spectacular site!
Adios!
Connie