Genovesa Island
We anchored this morning in the flooded caldera of Genovesa Island. Genovesa, or Tower as it is called in English, is home to nearly a half a million sea birds and we felt we’d seen most of them by the time we finished our morning walk! We disembarked on a white sandy beach littered with coral pieces. Immediately we noticed the dozens of drab brown, juvenile red-footed boobies (these, being juveniles, had no red feet yet, however) perched along the rocky outcrops and in the shrubs peering at us like the hundreds of curious youngsters that they were. This cohort of young birds has recently fledged, and by the sheer numbers of them we can deduce that it has been a very good year for the red foots. As a matter of fact, I do not remember seeing such a crowd of healthy young birds here on Genovesa in the last 25 years!
Some of the adult red footed boobies were still nesting, so we were delighted to see several fluffy white, down-covered chicks sitting on sloppy stick nests in the mangrove bushes. The elegant, nocturnal swallow-tailed gulls also had chicks; several still fluffy and others already in their smooth, white and black speckled juvenile plumage. Our naturalists identified three species of finches: the tiny warbler finch, the large cactus finch and the odd-looking large billed ground finch with a beak so heavy and parrot-like it looks like it might topple him forward.
This morning it was hot on shore! The birds were panting – “gular fluttering” is the proper term – and we applied sunscreen, hid under our hats and some of us went for a delicious swim to cool off. Those who joined Walter to snorkel in the deep at the base of Genovesa’s cliffs saw many bright fish, sea lions and a couple of sharks.
In the afternoon following lunch and siesta, welcome clouds multiplied in the sky and the weather began to cool off. We loaded into the Zodiacs and cruised across the flooded caldera, photographing and admiring the myriad of sea birds: red foots by the thousands, swallow-tailed gulls resting in preparation for a night of hunting, ultra-light great frigates soaring, Nazca boobies on the ledges and the graceful, but loud, red-billed tropic birds screaming and darting in display around their cliff-side nesting holes.
We climbed the rough lava at Prince Phillip’s Steps and hiked into a palo santo forest where we found dozens more nesting sea birds. As we came out onto a plateau of broken reddish lava we could see that this is a major nesting area for the Nazca boobies. We found these large boobies incubating their eggs and protecting their chicks. The larger, more independent chicks were on their own while the parents were out fishing. We were lucky to spot several cryptically colored short-eared owls sitting motionlessly on the lava waiting for a small bird to come too close; one owl was dining on a fat dove! We were delighted to get a very close look at these lovely birds of prey.
Back down the steps, our Zodiacs were waiting to shuttle us to the National Geographic Islander. As we motored towards the ship, the sun set as a fiery orange globe. Some of us saw, not exactly a green flash, but a definite green glow as it disappeared from view. Later we raised our glasses to toast what has been a marvelous voyage in the incomparable, “Islas Encantadas!”
