Española Island
We spent a truly wonderful day in the south eastern-most island of the archipelago. After being away in Quito on holiday for a month, it is sincerely fabulous to be back in the Galapagos. We are just coming into the warm season of the year, and many changes can be seen already. The vegetation looks greener than a month ago and the air temperature is certainly higher, but still pleasant. Today the beautiful sun was shining throughout the entire day. In addition the water temperature was close to perfect for snorkeling and water activities.
A very peculiar and interesting sighting happened during our morning nature walk. We saw a juvenile waved albatross (Diomedea irrorata) swimming close to the ship when we were coming back from our morning walk. But, what is extraordinary about this sighting? Albatrosses leave this island in December and they do not come back until April. I must say that today we were extremely lucky to watch probably one of the last ones or maybe the last one of the season.
In today’s picture, with the background of the stunning white sand in Gardner beach, you can see a great favorite amongst the island’s land birds, the Española or Hood mockingbird (Nesomimus macdonaldi). These curious and friendly birds were following us on the trails, being a real delight for our guests. Some mockingbirds were even sneaking around in our backpacks!
We spent a truly wonderful day in the south eastern-most island of the archipelago. After being away in Quito on holiday for a month, it is sincerely fabulous to be back in the Galapagos. We are just coming into the warm season of the year, and many changes can be seen already. The vegetation looks greener than a month ago and the air temperature is certainly higher, but still pleasant. Today the beautiful sun was shining throughout the entire day. In addition the water temperature was close to perfect for snorkeling and water activities.
A very peculiar and interesting sighting happened during our morning nature walk. We saw a juvenile waved albatross (Diomedea irrorata) swimming close to the ship when we were coming back from our morning walk. But, what is extraordinary about this sighting? Albatrosses leave this island in December and they do not come back until April. I must say that today we were extremely lucky to watch probably one of the last ones or maybe the last one of the season.
In today’s picture, with the background of the stunning white sand in Gardner beach, you can see a great favorite amongst the island’s land birds, the Española or Hood mockingbird (Nesomimus macdonaldi). These curious and friendly birds were following us on the trails, being a real delight for our guests. Some mockingbirds were even sneaking around in our backpacks!
