Genovesa Island
What a spectacular day we have had, beginning early in the morning with the stretching exercises and the delightful walk at Darwin’s Bay on the Island of Genovesa; where the male frigate birds are courting displaying their red pouches like Saint Valentine’s balloons with the hope to be the best choice for a female, large cactus finches carrying nest building material, red footed Boobies performing, mockingbirds, yellow warblers, warbler finches and finally the rarest gull of the world -Lava gull- There are only about four hundred pairs of them in the entire Archipelago; like the other members of the genus Larus, they are scavengers, they normally follow the fishing boats, or will visit small tour boats to still some left overs. The water was crystal clear and some enjoyed the snorkeling activity, with many colorful fish including spotted eagle rays.
During this afternoon’s outing the big expectation was to see the short-eared owl, which we got to see. They were sitting on the lava rocks that have been worn out by the weathering, so they camouflaged the birds very well. An owl flew with a storm petrel on his talons, making all the last storm petrel to fly away.
At the end of the afternoon the Polaris set sail and everybody got to the observation deck to watch the sunset over the Island of Marchena; yet the day was not over and so we had a spectacle of bottle nose dolphins breaching several times in a row, making us think that we are in paradise again.
What a spectacular day we have had, beginning early in the morning with the stretching exercises and the delightful walk at Darwin’s Bay on the Island of Genovesa; where the male frigate birds are courting displaying their red pouches like Saint Valentine’s balloons with the hope to be the best choice for a female, large cactus finches carrying nest building material, red footed Boobies performing, mockingbirds, yellow warblers, warbler finches and finally the rarest gull of the world -Lava gull- There are only about four hundred pairs of them in the entire Archipelago; like the other members of the genus Larus, they are scavengers, they normally follow the fishing boats, or will visit small tour boats to still some left overs. The water was crystal clear and some enjoyed the snorkeling activity, with many colorful fish including spotted eagle rays.
During this afternoon’s outing the big expectation was to see the short-eared owl, which we got to see. They were sitting on the lava rocks that have been worn out by the weathering, so they camouflaged the birds very well. An owl flew with a storm petrel on his talons, making all the last storm petrel to fly away.
At the end of the afternoon the Polaris set sail and everybody got to the observation deck to watch the sunset over the Island of Marchena; yet the day was not over and so we had a spectacle of bottle nose dolphins breaching several times in a row, making us think that we are in paradise again.
