Ted's Excellent Pictures Taken in the Galapagos Islands April 2019

Ted's Excellent Pictures Taken in the Galapagos Islands
April 2019

Red-footed Booby

Hipster Booby with goatee
- this would make "Chuck" Darwin turn over in his grave !

Blue-footed Booby, at ease

A younger, immature booby

Huh?

What did you just call me?

Nazca Booby

Him: When I come home from work I expect dinner on the table!
And not just some regurgitated worm either!!

Her: Take that! In your eye, buster!!

No respect

Swallow-tailed Gulls

Swallow-tailed parent yelling at the kid

There goes the neighbourhood

Male Frigatebird

During breeding season the male frigatebirds are usually seen on the ground preening themselves,
inflating their red pouch like this to impress the bachelorettes flying overhead

Who can resist this heart-throb?

Wingspan up to 7.5 feet
"the largest wing area to body weight ratio of any bird"

A happy couple ...

... I think

A typical day on Genovesa Island

The Short-eared Owl blends into the environment quiet well

Yellow Warbler

Darwin Ground Finch

Darwin observed the finches beaks varied from island to island depending on the food available
and proposed they evolved that way over time through natural selection

Galapagos Mockingbird

Galapagos Dove

Galapagos Waved Albatross having a snog

Oh, hello! We're the Albatrosses!

Great Heron, going up

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Galapagos Penguins
"the only penguins found north of the equator"
(Just a fraction of a degree north : the Galapagos Islands straddle the equator)
(The guided boat tours involve crossing the equator at sea a couple of times)

Q: What's for dinner? A: Crab!

Sea turtle track : the depressions in the sand are the nests

Bartolomé Island

Bartolomé is one of the youngest volcanic islands in the archipelago

Spatter Cone, Bartolomé Island

Pinnacle Rock, Bartolomé Island

The view from the top of an extinct volcano cone

Just proving I was there

Sunken volcanic crater

Little Lava Lizards

Male

Female

Lava rock and washed up coconut shell
... or ...
Donald Trump in a few more years?

Marine Iguanas - the only iguanas in the world that take to the sea
(out of necessity - it's all about the availability of food)

Another island, another variation

Land Iguanas on Santa Cruz Island are very patient with photographers

Another island, South Plaza, another variation
(I think this one was posing)

Is that a smirk?

Yet another island (Santa Fe), yet another variation
(They seem happier and fattier here)

As John Cleese would say, "This is an ex-iguana!!"

And now for something completely different...

Almost forgot - there are of course giant tortoises in the Galapagos

They've been here 2 - 3 million years and have all the time in the world
(believed to live around 170 years)

Different island, different carapace shape - it depends on if the island is arid or humid; if the vegetation is high or low
This saddle-backed carapace (shell) evolved on arid islands, allowing their heads to reach up to cactus pads for example.

Some say the islands were names after the old Spanish name for tortoise, galápago.