Fernandina Island
Another day in paradise! In the morning during a Zodiac cruise along the coastline of this beautiful island a Great blue heron was spotted with two chicks. This sighting is a very unusual one. The tiny chicks were admired and they became one the most pictured creatures of the day. The chicks were still covered with a grayish down. As you can see in the pictures they looked very funny. Some feathers were sticking up from their heads. For some of our guests they looked ugly, but for many of us they looked incredibly cute. Great blue herons are the largest herons in the American Continent. This elegant heron reaches a length of 1.4 m with a wingspan of 175 cm. The Great blue heron is one of the few resident bird species in Galapagos that has changed enough to be considered an endemic subspecies or race, but not a separate species yet. The main difference that taxonomists have noticed is that Great blue herons in Galapagos are paler in coloration and a little smaller. These large herons built large nests on mangroves or solitary rocks.
To top the day off, in the afternoon, while cruising to the equatorial line we observed a large pod of striped dolphins from the ship. The dolphins were travelling very fast, jumping totally out of the water, some of them synchronically. These acrobatic movements were the delight of their spectators. We watched them for more than 30 minutes. This half an hour was filled with cheerful expressions of joy and amazement. Striped dolphins are very similar to common dolphins. At a close range, a long dark stripe covering their bodies and the lack of yellow markings gave us the clue to identify them. This dolphin species is not commonly observed in the Galapagos waters.
Both the chicks and the dolphins are extraordinary sighting additions to this wonderful week on board the Polaris!
Another day in paradise! In the morning during a Zodiac cruise along the coastline of this beautiful island a Great blue heron was spotted with two chicks. This sighting is a very unusual one. The tiny chicks were admired and they became one the most pictured creatures of the day. The chicks were still covered with a grayish down. As you can see in the pictures they looked very funny. Some feathers were sticking up from their heads. For some of our guests they looked ugly, but for many of us they looked incredibly cute. Great blue herons are the largest herons in the American Continent. This elegant heron reaches a length of 1.4 m with a wingspan of 175 cm. The Great blue heron is one of the few resident bird species in Galapagos that has changed enough to be considered an endemic subspecies or race, but not a separate species yet. The main difference that taxonomists have noticed is that Great blue herons in Galapagos are paler in coloration and a little smaller. These large herons built large nests on mangroves or solitary rocks.
To top the day off, in the afternoon, while cruising to the equatorial line we observed a large pod of striped dolphins from the ship. The dolphins were travelling very fast, jumping totally out of the water, some of them synchronically. These acrobatic movements were the delight of their spectators. We watched them for more than 30 minutes. This half an hour was filled with cheerful expressions of joy and amazement. Striped dolphins are very similar to common dolphins. At a close range, a long dark stripe covering their bodies and the lack of yellow markings gave us the clue to identify them. This dolphin species is not commonly observed in the Galapagos waters.
Both the chicks and the dolphins are extraordinary sighting additions to this wonderful week on board the Polaris!
