Cerro Dragon, Santa Cruz Island
I couldn’t resist. Writing a brief note to everyone, that is. I’ve just returned from holiday on the mainland, and am back in the beloved islands, and my, how green they are! I left a month ago and the rains were just getting well under way. Normally during the warm season, seabirds are scattered along the vast coastlines, foraging for limited resources, sparsely found because of the lower nutrient levels, because of the lesser areas of up-welling, because of the slower and lighter winds. But this afternoon! As we drove around the corner of Venecia Islet in our Zodiacs we saw literally hundreds of blue-footed boobies standing shoulder to shoulder on the black boulders (then again, maybe not-so-black). In all my years of travelling in this corner of the archipelago, I’ve never seen a group of this size, in this location. They were all standing with their heads and bills into the breeze, which had picked up from the northeast, and brought small whitecaps into shore. Probably a school of gullet-sized fish had appeared in the area, and word had gotten out of a feeding frenzy to be had. But we saw them rather calm and still, standing and seemingly meditating en mass. A memorable sight indeed. Once again the islands had a surprise for me on my return.
I couldn’t resist. Writing a brief note to everyone, that is. I’ve just returned from holiday on the mainland, and am back in the beloved islands, and my, how green they are! I left a month ago and the rains were just getting well under way. Normally during the warm season, seabirds are scattered along the vast coastlines, foraging for limited resources, sparsely found because of the lower nutrient levels, because of the lesser areas of up-welling, because of the slower and lighter winds. But this afternoon! As we drove around the corner of Venecia Islet in our Zodiacs we saw literally hundreds of blue-footed boobies standing shoulder to shoulder on the black boulders (then again, maybe not-so-black). In all my years of travelling in this corner of the archipelago, I’ve never seen a group of this size, in this location. They were all standing with their heads and bills into the breeze, which had picked up from the northeast, and brought small whitecaps into shore. Probably a school of gullet-sized fish had appeared in the area, and word had gotten out of a feeding frenzy to be had. But we saw them rather calm and still, standing and seemingly meditating en mass. A memorable sight indeed. Once again the islands had a surprise for me on my return.
