Genovesa Island
This week has been spectacular! What a fantastic day on the island of the birds! We saw so many birds: perching, nesting, feeding, begging for food that is very difficult to put into words what we all experienced today. For the group of bird watchers who are on board this week with us, this island was close to heaven!
There is a very large colony of great frigate birds on Genovesa. The mating season for frigates is over on this island; many of them are incubating eggs, some already have little chicks. The beautiful baby bird in today’s picture is a nestling great frigate bird. This small bird was the sensation of the morning as everybody, including me, took a picture of this extremely cute bird! Parent frigates guard their chicks for the first week or so to keep them safe from falling prey to another frigate.
Later in the afternoon, to top off an already marvelous day, we had yet another incredible sighting. We were enjoying watching a group of bottle-nosed dolphins (Tursiups truncatus) riding the bow of the Polaris. Suddenly, “ORCAS! ORCAS!” was the general yell. And everybody rushed out to the outer decks.
The orca whales (Orcinus orca) were in a group of at least eight with a very large male. This rare sighting in Galapagos was even better than usual; the orcas were hunting common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). The show lasted about thirty minutes, the night was falling, the orcas finally disappeared on the horizon and we all have unforgettable memories to savor for years…
This week has been spectacular! What a fantastic day on the island of the birds! We saw so many birds: perching, nesting, feeding, begging for food that is very difficult to put into words what we all experienced today. For the group of bird watchers who are on board this week with us, this island was close to heaven!
There is a very large colony of great frigate birds on Genovesa. The mating season for frigates is over on this island; many of them are incubating eggs, some already have little chicks. The beautiful baby bird in today’s picture is a nestling great frigate bird. This small bird was the sensation of the morning as everybody, including me, took a picture of this extremely cute bird! Parent frigates guard their chicks for the first week or so to keep them safe from falling prey to another frigate.
Later in the afternoon, to top off an already marvelous day, we had yet another incredible sighting. We were enjoying watching a group of bottle-nosed dolphins (Tursiups truncatus) riding the bow of the Polaris. Suddenly, “ORCAS! ORCAS!” was the general yell. And everybody rushed out to the outer decks.
The orca whales (Orcinus orca) were in a group of at least eight with a very large male. This rare sighting in Galapagos was even better than usual; the orcas were hunting common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). The show lasted about thirty minutes, the night was falling, the orcas finally disappeared on the horizon and we all have unforgettable memories to savor for years…
