Genovesa Island
Our day started with a landing in the morning on a white coral beach surrounded by thousands of seabirds. The breeding activity of the birds couldn’t have been any better! The swallow-tailed gulls were walking around and the males were preening the females while they sat on the eggs. It is quite a sight to watch the great frigatebirds stealing fish or nesting material from the red-footed boobies or even from each other. This behavior known as “kleptoparasitism” is part of the “non-friendly” inter-specific relationships that happens on the island. On the other hand, “love is in the air,” and frigatebirds are also working on intra-specific relationships with their red, heart-looking pouches, inflated in order to be chosen by a mate. Four to five males sit on certain spots, and display their bright balloons to compete, meanwhile the females fly overhead and will decide which gular pouch they like the most. Additionally, red-footed boobies nest on the branches inside the red mangrove trees. The aqua-explorers snorkeled with wonderful colorful fish and sea lions along the cliffs.
The landscape in the afternoon changed while walking on lava tube terrain and through a “palo santo” forest, smelling its particular incense in the air. As the dry season starts, it is leafless and dormant. While the storm petrels were flying around, the Nazca boobies were standing and regulating their body temperature by shading their feet in order not to overheat. Finally, we rode back with the Zodiacs along the cliffs of the “caldera” of the island, a collapsed crater named Darwin Bay.
What a wonderful day!
Our day started with a landing in the morning on a white coral beach surrounded by thousands of seabirds. The breeding activity of the birds couldn’t have been any better! The swallow-tailed gulls were walking around and the males were preening the females while they sat on the eggs. It is quite a sight to watch the great frigatebirds stealing fish or nesting material from the red-footed boobies or even from each other. This behavior known as “kleptoparasitism” is part of the “non-friendly” inter-specific relationships that happens on the island. On the other hand, “love is in the air,” and frigatebirds are also working on intra-specific relationships with their red, heart-looking pouches, inflated in order to be chosen by a mate. Four to five males sit on certain spots, and display their bright balloons to compete, meanwhile the females fly overhead and will decide which gular pouch they like the most. Additionally, red-footed boobies nest on the branches inside the red mangrove trees. The aqua-explorers snorkeled with wonderful colorful fish and sea lions along the cliffs.
The landscape in the afternoon changed while walking on lava tube terrain and through a “palo santo” forest, smelling its particular incense in the air. As the dry season starts, it is leafless and dormant. While the storm petrels were flying around, the Nazca boobies were standing and regulating their body temperature by shading their feet in order not to overheat. Finally, we rode back with the Zodiacs along the cliffs of the “caldera” of the island, a collapsed crater named Darwin Bay.
What a wonderful day!
