Genovesa Island
“Archie” – the young red-footed booby that I have been following for 11 weeks is now out of his nest. When we got to shore this morning and checked in the red mangroves behind the beach, we found him perched on a branch a couple of feet above his nest. Preening his feathers, watching us curiously and waiting for his parents to bring food – this is how he spent his morning. We spent ours in admiration of the myriad avian inhabits of this beautiful island and enjoying the luke warm ocean.
All the sea birds are breeding on Genovesa! The swallowtail gulls are courting and nest building and I noticed a couple birds that were incubating their eggs. The Nazca boobies have eggs (see photo) or chicks. There are now only a few large frigate chicks to be seen on the flattened and guano coated twig nests, and today we also saw signs that the frigate courtship season is about to recommence: several male frigates had partially inflated balloon red gular pouches.
We combined today’s walks over sandy and lava terrain, with snorkeling and swimming. With the water temperature at a comfortable 80 degrees and visibility fairly good, no one was in a hurry to get out of the ocean. As a matter of fact, we had a group so inspired by the marine life that we went snorkeling with them again in the afternoon and following the walk yet another group of our guests took a final dip from the ship. And so ends another day in Paradise…
“Archie” – the young red-footed booby that I have been following for 11 weeks is now out of his nest. When we got to shore this morning and checked in the red mangroves behind the beach, we found him perched on a branch a couple of feet above his nest. Preening his feathers, watching us curiously and waiting for his parents to bring food – this is how he spent his morning. We spent ours in admiration of the myriad avian inhabits of this beautiful island and enjoying the luke warm ocean.
All the sea birds are breeding on Genovesa! The swallowtail gulls are courting and nest building and I noticed a couple birds that were incubating their eggs. The Nazca boobies have eggs (see photo) or chicks. There are now only a few large frigate chicks to be seen on the flattened and guano coated twig nests, and today we also saw signs that the frigate courtship season is about to recommence: several male frigates had partially inflated balloon red gular pouches.
We combined today’s walks over sandy and lava terrain, with snorkeling and swimming. With the water temperature at a comfortable 80 degrees and visibility fairly good, no one was in a hurry to get out of the ocean. As a matter of fact, we had a group so inspired by the marine life that we went snorkeling with them again in the afternoon and following the walk yet another group of our guests took a final dip from the ship. And so ends another day in Paradise…
