Today we visited Genovesa Island, a place where the diversity of life is so abundant that we needed to be extremely careful with every step we took, to avoid interfering with the numerous birds which inhabit this marvelous island. We organized two different groups to visit the only two places authorized by the Galapagos National Park Service. Here, we had the opportunity to learn about the different species of boobies in the Galapagos. On the National Geographic Endeavour, we had the unique opportunity of exclusive access for the whole day to these two places, which gave us a unique experience.
Some of our guests began the day with a visit to the white coralline beach of Darwin Bay, where we had very good reasons to walk slowly, as we found birds walking all around the place. We all became ornithologists for the day, as this island is a bird paradise which provides a wonderful way of understanding the interactions and behaviors of different bird species. It can be said that Genovesa is synonymous of red-footed boobies, as these are the birds most represented in the island. We witnessed many juvenile and fledging red-footed boobies, which were trying to fly and learning survival skills. The large number of frigate birds passing overhead and stealing food from boobies and tropical birds was another wonderful spectacle.
The second place we visited today was Prince Philips steps, where we had the chance to observe the endemic short-eared owl hunting for its prey, the Elliot storm petrel. As we walked along this trail, we were perpetually surrounded by red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Galapagos doves, yellow-crowned night herons, large ground finches, sharp beak finches and the gorgeous red-billed tropical bird. This created the perfect conditions for us to stop on the main cliff of the trail, and to put our cameras down to enjoy a time of silence. As we took in silence, our senses awakened and we all felt deeply connected to this enchanted ecosystem. Taking into account that there is no one else present on this site, and also that the birds are utterly unconcerned with our presence, our last adventure of the week on Genovesa was simply magical.
