Española Island, Galápagos
Today a wonderful trip was drawing to an end – but what an end! A day that will remain engraved in our souls, possibly forever. Española Island is truly one of the jewels in the well-endowed crown of the Galápagos Archipelago. It is a small island all the way to the south-east of the group making it one of the oldest: it was approximately four million years ago that the tip of this giant volcano breached the turbulent Pacific waters to become one of the first Galápagos Islands. It has since gradually moved away from the active hotspot that gave rise to it, gone extinct and is now well on its way to disappearing once more beneath the waves, leaving not a trace of its ephemeral existence.
Its life, though short by geological standards, will have been an unbelievably rich one, as it has long been a haven for all kinds of creatures. Reptiles stranded on pieces of drift material and swept out to open sea found life-saving refuge here, albeit after a struggle for existence. Small land birds caught up in strong winds were mercifully dropped onto the remote rocky outcrop and managed to eke out a living, evolving to fill all kinds of empty ecological niches. However, the island is undoubtedly ruled by those creatures that have truly mastered the art of long-distance, oceanic travel: the seabirds. Dazzlingly-white Nazca boobies clutter the cliff edges: courting, nesting, incubating eggs and squabbling. Blue-footed boobies fill the inner coastline, just beginning to feel the stirrings of a new breeding season coming along. But most spectacular of all is an enormous seabird that has truly conquered the extensive open spaces of the world’s oceans: the albatross, only truly at home when as far out at sea as feasibly possible. The albatross that seasonally inhabits Española Island is called the waved albatross, considered endemic to this remote rocky outcrop as approximately 50,000 pairs nest here a year (the only place in the world, bar 4 or 5 rebellious pairs that have chosen Isla de la Plata, a short distance off the coast of Ecuador). The breeding season for this magnificent bird is drawing to the end, and the last of the fledglings are soon to spread their newly-feathered wings and launch themselves off a daunting cliff, yet courtship is rampant – what is going on? The juveniles that take to the skies will not land for five to six years, until the advent of sexual maturity lures them to land to find a lifelong mate and a nesting area. They will not have the time to complete the whole breeding cycle in one go, so they tend to return a little later in the season to find a mate, which they will then reunite with the following year to start the cycle all over again.
It is truly an honour to partake in these all-important events in the life of a waved albatross, and something we have the unique ecological innocence of the Galápagos inhabitants to thank for.
Today a wonderful trip was drawing to an end – but what an end! A day that will remain engraved in our souls, possibly forever. Española Island is truly one of the jewels in the well-endowed crown of the Galápagos Archipelago. It is a small island all the way to the south-east of the group making it one of the oldest: it was approximately four million years ago that the tip of this giant volcano breached the turbulent Pacific waters to become one of the first Galápagos Islands. It has since gradually moved away from the active hotspot that gave rise to it, gone extinct and is now well on its way to disappearing once more beneath the waves, leaving not a trace of its ephemeral existence.
Its life, though short by geological standards, will have been an unbelievably rich one, as it has long been a haven for all kinds of creatures. Reptiles stranded on pieces of drift material and swept out to open sea found life-saving refuge here, albeit after a struggle for existence. Small land birds caught up in strong winds were mercifully dropped onto the remote rocky outcrop and managed to eke out a living, evolving to fill all kinds of empty ecological niches. However, the island is undoubtedly ruled by those creatures that have truly mastered the art of long-distance, oceanic travel: the seabirds. Dazzlingly-white Nazca boobies clutter the cliff edges: courting, nesting, incubating eggs and squabbling. Blue-footed boobies fill the inner coastline, just beginning to feel the stirrings of a new breeding season coming along. But most spectacular of all is an enormous seabird that has truly conquered the extensive open spaces of the world’s oceans: the albatross, only truly at home when as far out at sea as feasibly possible. The albatross that seasonally inhabits Española Island is called the waved albatross, considered endemic to this remote rocky outcrop as approximately 50,000 pairs nest here a year (the only place in the world, bar 4 or 5 rebellious pairs that have chosen Isla de la Plata, a short distance off the coast of Ecuador). The breeding season for this magnificent bird is drawing to the end, and the last of the fledglings are soon to spread their newly-feathered wings and launch themselves off a daunting cliff, yet courtship is rampant – what is going on? The juveniles that take to the skies will not land for five to six years, until the advent of sexual maturity lures them to land to find a lifelong mate and a nesting area. They will not have the time to complete the whole breeding cycle in one go, so they tend to return a little later in the season to find a mate, which they will then reunite with the following year to start the cycle all over again.
It is truly an honour to partake in these all-important events in the life of a waved albatross, and something we have the unique ecological innocence of the Galápagos inhabitants to thank for.
