Las Perlas Archipelago, Panama
About 350 islands and islets make up the Archipelago of Las Perlas in the Central Pacific of Panama. The history of this area is related to diving for pearls, feisty indigenous people, Spanish conquistadores, and slaves brought in from Africa… But today, what attracted us to the islands was neither of these, but the birds that live on them.
Harbored within the crevices of the tall, rocky walls or on the tall deciduous trees, were large colonies of brown boobies, brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, and Neotropical cormorants. In much less quantities were several individuals of great egrets, American oystercatchers, bare-throated tiger herons, yellow-crowned night herons, grackles, snowy egrets, spotted sandpipers, and blue-footed boobies (shown in the picture above).
Boobies are found in tropical oceans throughout the world, they all feed on fish captured on spectacular plunges from considerable heights. Their common name, “booby”, is derived from the Spanish word “bobo” – not too bright - from the birds’ unsuspicious behavior on the breeding grounds, which enabled early sailors to kill them easily for food.
About 350 islands and islets make up the Archipelago of Las Perlas in the Central Pacific of Panama. The history of this area is related to diving for pearls, feisty indigenous people, Spanish conquistadores, and slaves brought in from Africa… But today, what attracted us to the islands was neither of these, but the birds that live on them.
Harbored within the crevices of the tall, rocky walls or on the tall deciduous trees, were large colonies of brown boobies, brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, and Neotropical cormorants. In much less quantities were several individuals of great egrets, American oystercatchers, bare-throated tiger herons, yellow-crowned night herons, grackles, snowy egrets, spotted sandpipers, and blue-footed boobies (shown in the picture above).
Boobies are found in tropical oceans throughout the world, they all feed on fish captured on spectacular plunges from considerable heights. Their common name, “booby”, is derived from the Spanish word “bobo” – not too bright - from the birds’ unsuspicious behavior on the breeding grounds, which enabled early sailors to kill them easily for food.
