The largest bird in the islands is the waved albatross (Diomedea irrorata), which weighs three to four kilos and has a wingspan of approximately 2.3 meters (almost eight feet!). This bird is considered endemic not only to the archipelago, but to the tiny island of Española that we visited today, as virtually the entire world population of around ten thousand pairs nests here. It is the only one of thirteen albatross species to occur entirely in the tropics.
We had the great opportunity to witness some quite frenetic courtship between several newly formed albatross pairs, which is without a doubt my very favorite of all the wonderful shows our walks through the enchanted islands have to offer. This is actually a very complex series of highly ritualized behaviors, but looks so awkward that it is also extremely entertaining, and had us all in fits of laughter at the strange movements and sounds made by the pairs.
In our picture we can see a couple of the more common moves. One of the pairs is engaging in the beak fencing which occurs on and off during the whole ritual, whilst the others are exaggeratedly bowing their heads from side to side.
The whole act will culminate in the laying of a large egg, that the parents will take turns in incubating during about two months, after which a little brown downy chick hatches. It will be raised on a rich oil made up of digested fish and squid, until it is ready to take off around December, not to return to its native island until reaching sexual maturity, maybe as much as six years later, when the whole process starts all over again.
