Genovesa Island
What a wonderful day we have had! We got to see chicks of the red-footed booby, Nazca booby, great frigatebird, and a couple of swallow-tailed gulls! The most common chick we saw was the red-footed booby like the one in the photo. They are completely white, and their feathers looked extremely soft. The red-footed boobies are the only species of boobies that nest in trees in the Galapagos. Genovesa Island, also known as Bird Island, is a great place for many different species.
As Family Coordinator, I went on one of the long walks in the morning. Our group had an exceptional sighting of a newly-hatched great frigatebird. As we watched, the mother frigatebird opened her bill, and the young chick stuck his head right down into the parent’s throat. What was especially wonderful for us was that these birds were about five feet away from where we were standing! The close proximity to birds and wildlife here in the Galapagos never ceases to astound me.
To top off our week, at sunset today, we got to see two whales right off our bow! One was extremely active. While we all watched, we saw a Minke whale breach not once but numerous times very close to the ship. The other naturalists who had been working for years said they had never seen such a display. The Minke came up out of the water and threw his head back. The final breach occurred right on cue when Cindy Manning, the Expedition Leader, spoke to the whale and asked him to breach just one more time on the count of three, and before she could say three, the whale emerged right in front of us! What a way to end the week!
What a wonderful day we have had! We got to see chicks of the red-footed booby, Nazca booby, great frigatebird, and a couple of swallow-tailed gulls! The most common chick we saw was the red-footed booby like the one in the photo. They are completely white, and their feathers looked extremely soft. The red-footed boobies are the only species of boobies that nest in trees in the Galapagos. Genovesa Island, also known as Bird Island, is a great place for many different species.
As Family Coordinator, I went on one of the long walks in the morning. Our group had an exceptional sighting of a newly-hatched great frigatebird. As we watched, the mother frigatebird opened her bill, and the young chick stuck his head right down into the parent’s throat. What was especially wonderful for us was that these birds were about five feet away from where we were standing! The close proximity to birds and wildlife here in the Galapagos never ceases to astound me.
To top off our week, at sunset today, we got to see two whales right off our bow! One was extremely active. While we all watched, we saw a Minke whale breach not once but numerous times very close to the ship. The other naturalists who had been working for years said they had never seen such a display. The Minke came up out of the water and threw his head back. The final breach occurred right on cue when Cindy Manning, the Expedition Leader, spoke to the whale and asked him to breach just one more time on the count of three, and before she could say three, the whale emerged right in front of us! What a way to end the week!
