Bartolome and James Islands
Another incredible day in these magical islands! We have seen incredible lava flows, parasitic cones, and underwater craters. We went swimming with sharks and penguins and took an astonishing walk along the intertidal zone. Here the splendor of the brilliant Sally Lightfoot crabs against the black lava background was something that everybody wanted to photograph.
One of the nicest birds that we saw in action as they were feeding today were the tiny white-vented storm petrels. Storm petrels are among the smallest of all the seabirds. Most are nocturnal breeders, however the Galapagos of wedge-rumped storm petrel is diurnal on its breeding grounds.
The storm petrels shown in today’s picture are easy to recognize because they have long legs that project beyond the tip of their tail in flight. They are agile flyers and spend most of their time on the wing. They have a pale upper-wing bar and a white rump. This species, is called both the white-vented and the Elliot`s storm petrel, and is restricted to the coast of western South America. When they feed they habitually walk on the surface of the water, with their wings raised in a shallow V over their back. They incline forward slowly and dip downwards, bounding and hopping across the ocean and spring clear of the waves with their long legs. In Galapagos Elliot’s storm petrels often form large diurnal feeding rafts, particularly in the sheltered areas where we anchor.
Another incredible day in these magical islands! We have seen incredible lava flows, parasitic cones, and underwater craters. We went swimming with sharks and penguins and took an astonishing walk along the intertidal zone. Here the splendor of the brilliant Sally Lightfoot crabs against the black lava background was something that everybody wanted to photograph.
One of the nicest birds that we saw in action as they were feeding today were the tiny white-vented storm petrels. Storm petrels are among the smallest of all the seabirds. Most are nocturnal breeders, however the Galapagos of wedge-rumped storm petrel is diurnal on its breeding grounds.
The storm petrels shown in today’s picture are easy to recognize because they have long legs that project beyond the tip of their tail in flight. They are agile flyers and spend most of their time on the wing. They have a pale upper-wing bar and a white rump. This species, is called both the white-vented and the Elliot`s storm petrel, and is restricted to the coast of western South America. When they feed they habitually walk on the surface of the water, with their wings raised in a shallow V over their back. They incline forward slowly and dip downwards, bounding and hopping across the ocean and spring clear of the waves with their long legs. In Galapagos Elliot’s storm petrels often form large diurnal feeding rafts, particularly in the sheltered areas where we anchor.
