Genovesa Island
Today was a really good day. We all enjoyed ourselves quite a lot. We got out to trek a little in the fresh air and sun while experiencing a variety of activity amongst the wildlife. Genovesa Island (named after Christopher Columbus’ birthplace) is a very fascinating place. From a distance it looks like a pancake with its flat top but as one enters the bay within it, the sheer lava cliffs loom about ninety feet all around. What a feeling it is to be at the bow of the ship when entering Darwin’s Bay knowing that the ship is actually navigating in the caldera of a volcano. And those birds… yes birds…groups, flocks, swarms, clouds of them flying over those looming cliffs.
Genovesa Island is home to hundreds of thousands and actually probably over a million of these marvelous creatures. There are all types: water birds, waders, migratory birds, shore birds, land birds, and of course sea birds. This is why we, the naturalists, like to call it Bird Island. Just a short ways off the beach from where we landed is where we were met with this funky looking fellow (photograph). It’s a young Nazca booby, which seems to be sporting a Mohawk. There is a large nesting colony of these animals here, and most of them are at the point of their life cycles in which they are caring for chicks that are about two to three months old, like this one. These youngsters spend their days watching the world go by, strengthening their wing muscles, and trying to get rid of their downy feathering, so flight plumage can set in. The down on the very tippy top of its head is the hardest to remove, giving our friend here a punk rock look to him.
Today was a really good day. We all enjoyed ourselves quite a lot. We got out to trek a little in the fresh air and sun while experiencing a variety of activity amongst the wildlife. Genovesa Island (named after Christopher Columbus’ birthplace) is a very fascinating place. From a distance it looks like a pancake with its flat top but as one enters the bay within it, the sheer lava cliffs loom about ninety feet all around. What a feeling it is to be at the bow of the ship when entering Darwin’s Bay knowing that the ship is actually navigating in the caldera of a volcano. And those birds… yes birds…groups, flocks, swarms, clouds of them flying over those looming cliffs.
Genovesa Island is home to hundreds of thousands and actually probably over a million of these marvelous creatures. There are all types: water birds, waders, migratory birds, shore birds, land birds, and of course sea birds. This is why we, the naturalists, like to call it Bird Island. Just a short ways off the beach from where we landed is where we were met with this funky looking fellow (photograph). It’s a young Nazca booby, which seems to be sporting a Mohawk. There is a large nesting colony of these animals here, and most of them are at the point of their life cycles in which they are caring for chicks that are about two to three months old, like this one. These youngsters spend their days watching the world go by, strengthening their wing muscles, and trying to get rid of their downy feathering, so flight plumage can set in. The down on the very tippy top of its head is the hardest to remove, giving our friend here a punk rock look to him.
