Española Island
Another awesome day birding in the Islands! Today we saw many different kinds of birds: blue-footed boobies, Galapagos doves, Hood mockingbirds, finches, Galapagos hawks, waved albatrosses, and Nazca boobies. The Nazca boobies were busy preening and caring for their feathers. This is a very important maintenance activity for all birds. When birds preen, they spread their feathers with oil from their uropygial gland. This gland, also called the preen gland or oil gland, sits at the base of the spine on the dorsal surface of the tail’s fleshy stub. This heart-shaped structure is composed of many microscopic glandular tubules that exude a viscous liquid of fatty acids, waxes, and fats. The tubules drain from each lobe of the gland into a central duct, which has a midline nipple opening onto the dorsal surface of the gland. The oils from the uropigyal gland apparently both waterproof the feathers and act as a grooming aid and lubricant when smoothing feathers and “zipping up” split feather vanes. Watching the birds calmly preening with us so near was delightful. It is fun to be ignored by wildlife!
During the afternoon we visited Gardner Bay where we enjoyed various water activities: snorkeling the deep waters around Tortuga Islet, and swimming and snorkeling from the beach. Today was a great experience!
Another awesome day birding in the Islands! Today we saw many different kinds of birds: blue-footed boobies, Galapagos doves, Hood mockingbirds, finches, Galapagos hawks, waved albatrosses, and Nazca boobies. The Nazca boobies were busy preening and caring for their feathers. This is a very important maintenance activity for all birds. When birds preen, they spread their feathers with oil from their uropygial gland. This gland, also called the preen gland or oil gland, sits at the base of the spine on the dorsal surface of the tail’s fleshy stub. This heart-shaped structure is composed of many microscopic glandular tubules that exude a viscous liquid of fatty acids, waxes, and fats. The tubules drain from each lobe of the gland into a central duct, which has a midline nipple opening onto the dorsal surface of the gland. The oils from the uropigyal gland apparently both waterproof the feathers and act as a grooming aid and lubricant when smoothing feathers and “zipping up” split feather vanes. Watching the birds calmly preening with us so near was delightful. It is fun to be ignored by wildlife!
During the afternoon we visited Gardner Bay where we enjoyed various water activities: snorkeling the deep waters around Tortuga Islet, and swimming and snorkeling from the beach. Today was a great experience!
