Today we visited Genovesa, located on the North East part of the Archipelago. The Panamanian current influences this archipelago greatly. Deep water surrounds Genovesa, with the platform dropping dramatically to more than 12,000 feet below sea level.
Early in the morning, we observed for the first time during this journey the red-footed boobies. Genovesa is the home to the largest colony of this species around the world with more than 200,000 pairs. This island also harbors thousands of sea birds, including red-billed tropical birds, great frigate birds, Nazca boobies, shearwaters, and petrels.
On the beach, we observed red-footed boobies sky pointing and great frigatebirds with their red pouch fully inflated to attract females, as well as the yellow-crowned heron.
In the afternoon, we climbed Prince Phillip’s steps. We observed three short-eared owls; one of which was hunting and feeding on a Galapagos storm petrel.
