OK, I’m new to this blogging lark. Thinking of 2 things at the same time, doing it wrong.
If you want birds, you’ve come to the right place!
I have been here for 4 days, and I have already chalked up quite a number of birds.
4, maybe 5, different herons, warblers, flycatchers, mocking birds, several of Darwin’s Finches, frigate birds (great, and magnificent!!) blue footed boobies, a ruddy turnstone, pelicans and a whimbrel. Oh, and most exciting ‘in the moment’ spot, turning round in the pitch black, and seeing a barn owl sitting on a sign at chest level, not more than a metre and a half away!
“But Dr G, what do they look like? How do we know that you have seen all of these?”
OK, I have photos:
The herons are quite magnificent. The fields in the high(er) lands that we drove through to get from the airport north of Santa Cruz, on Baltra, to Puerto Ayora had 2 animals of interest: giant Galapagos tortoises, and egrets! My one ‘regret’ is that I could get a photo of an egret and a tortoise (yet!).
In town the is a fish market, and in is surrounded by waiting birds, eager to snatch an opportunity to get a free meal. In the small mangrove adjacent to the market we saw a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias):
In the mangrove above there are pelicans, and there are also yellow crowned night herons.
Along the pier in Puerto Ayora, which is illumintated and attracts sharks (see the next post for more on that…) there was a Lava heron (Butorides sundevalli) standing to attention. I’m not sure if it was looking for a swift meal, of some of the tiny little fish attracted by the flood lights, or if it was trying to avoid becoming a shark’s dinner?
