Española Island
A day of blue-footed boobies!
A visit to Española Island is a visit to an island of birds. This morning we had the great opportunity to disembark at Punta Suarez, on a beautiful landing spot with many sea lions. There were babies, females and male sea lions. During the walk we saw the first blue-footed booby of the week, on land. Everyone was very exited to see him and immediately began taking pictures. The booby started whistling and dancing as only blue-footed boobies can. Walking a little more along the shore, we came to a big colony of blue-footed boobies. There were hundreds of these birds just beginning to nest, and they covered the flat terrain of Punta Suarez.
Our guests were very happy to see them as they collected small twigs to build their nest. Some of the male boobies were dancing and whistling to the females who were flying above them. Male blue-footed boobies have to work very hard to find a mate. To attract a female, they have to have some characteristics that are very important to the opposite sex. First, they have to be a good whistler; that is the way they call attention to the female. If a female likes his sound, she will approach close to him. He must also be a good dancer; he moves his body from side to side and shows his nice blue feet to the female. It may be important to the female that the males have clean feet or maybe it is just the bright blue color that attracts them. Once the female sees all these special characteristics of the male, she may decide to stay with him and start dancing at the same rhythm of the male. The show is fantastic!
In the afternoon we had opportunities to go swimming and snorkeling. We came back on board around six and our bartender Cesar prepare a cocktail for us called “the blue-footed booby”. He said the drink’s recipe is a secret and that after you have one, YOU start dancing like a blue-footed booby!
A day of blue-footed boobies!
A visit to Española Island is a visit to an island of birds. This morning we had the great opportunity to disembark at Punta Suarez, on a beautiful landing spot with many sea lions. There were babies, females and male sea lions. During the walk we saw the first blue-footed booby of the week, on land. Everyone was very exited to see him and immediately began taking pictures. The booby started whistling and dancing as only blue-footed boobies can. Walking a little more along the shore, we came to a big colony of blue-footed boobies. There were hundreds of these birds just beginning to nest, and they covered the flat terrain of Punta Suarez.
Our guests were very happy to see them as they collected small twigs to build their nest. Some of the male boobies were dancing and whistling to the females who were flying above them. Male blue-footed boobies have to work very hard to find a mate. To attract a female, they have to have some characteristics that are very important to the opposite sex. First, they have to be a good whistler; that is the way they call attention to the female. If a female likes his sound, she will approach close to him. He must also be a good dancer; he moves his body from side to side and shows his nice blue feet to the female. It may be important to the female that the males have clean feet or maybe it is just the bright blue color that attracts them. Once the female sees all these special characteristics of the male, she may decide to stay with him and start dancing at the same rhythm of the male. The show is fantastic!
In the afternoon we had opportunities to go swimming and snorkeling. We came back on board around six and our bartender Cesar prepare a cocktail for us called “the blue-footed booby”. He said the drink’s recipe is a secret and that after you have one, YOU start dancing like a blue-footed booby!
