Galapagos birds – Ecuador Trip 2015

Continued from my last post.

As with most islands the bird life on Galapagos is quite varied, from see birds like Blue Footed Boobies to Darwin finches that the island is so famous for.  Darwin’s studies of the finches from some of the Galapagos islands helped contribute to his “theory of evolution by natural selection” .

We had hoped to see Frigate birds on Galapagos and weren’t disappointed; the sky was full of them.  They kinda remind me of modern day Pterodactyls from afar.

Another bird we had hoped to see on our trip was the Galapagos Hawk. With only 800 individuals making up the number of the species endemic to the Galapagos, this bird is officially classified as vulnerable on the red list of endangered birds. So you can imagine our frustration when our hopes were dashed before landing on Galapagos when a last min itinerary change meant that we were no longer going to the island that was supposed to provide the best chance of seeing the bird.

To our surprise, as soon as we landed on Santiago island (on the first stop of our cruise), we got our cameras out and a Galapagos hawk flew by and landed on the cliff face above us to eat its breakfast “still flapping away”. As the feathers got plucked, it didn’t take long before it was joined by another Galapagos Hawk.

Galapagos Hawk

The next day on another beach landing we saw another Galapagos Hawk fly by and I managed to fire off a couple shots.  How lucky!

DSC_0658-2

Then as we walked back down the beach a juvenile Galapagos Hawk was sitting in a tree about 2 metres off the ground completely ignoring us.  We got quite close and managed to photograph the bird.  It was one of those moments that you find yourself too close to the subject you’re photographing and you have to take a couple steps back to fit it in the frame! Where else could you say this?! I can’t say this ever happens in the wild back in England!

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Below are some of the other birds on Galapagos

 

brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
swallow tailed gull
Swallow Tailed Gull

 

flamingo
Flamingo
Galapagos Dove
Galapagos Dove
Black-necked stilt
Black-necked stilt

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