Fernandina Island
The Galapagos Islands are distant from any other landmass. The climate is largely determined by the ocean currents, which wash through the archipelago. Situated on the equator under the tropical sun, and yet bathed for much of the year by the cool waters of the Humboldt and Cromwell currents, the islands have a special mix of tropical and temperate environments, which is reflected in the ecology of its unusual plants and animals.
Today we visited the island of Fernandina, a “one of a kind” island! There are many different things that make this place special, one of them is its location. Fernandina Island is located at the western side of this beautiful archipelago and has the benefit of the richest up welling in the area. Consequently, the marine and land life here is more than abundant. Many different species were found during today’s excursion on the island. One of them was the famous Galapagos penguin and the Galapagos fur sea lion, but among the most intriguing of all was the flightless cormorant, Nannopterum harrisi, which is only one of the twenty-nine species of living cormorants to have lost the ability of flight. We had the chance to get a close look at many of these birds since the nesting grounds are located right on the lava flows along the path. Some of them got curious enough to approach the Zodiacs themselves to get a closer look of the “rare species on board.” One, however, paid us no attention whatsoever, being more occupied with eating a newly caught octopus a few feet away from one of the Zodiacs.
It is very well known that the nature of the colonization and establishment process has also played an important role in shaping the Galapagos biota. These islands are scientifically one of the most interesting and best studied of the world’s archipelagos. The opportunity of seeing such a unique species today was superb, and it was only surpassed by the idea of encountering the mythical Galapagos giant tortoises tomorrow, but that’s a different story…
The Galapagos Islands are distant from any other landmass. The climate is largely determined by the ocean currents, which wash through the archipelago. Situated on the equator under the tropical sun, and yet bathed for much of the year by the cool waters of the Humboldt and Cromwell currents, the islands have a special mix of tropical and temperate environments, which is reflected in the ecology of its unusual plants and animals.
Today we visited the island of Fernandina, a “one of a kind” island! There are many different things that make this place special, one of them is its location. Fernandina Island is located at the western side of this beautiful archipelago and has the benefit of the richest up welling in the area. Consequently, the marine and land life here is more than abundant. Many different species were found during today’s excursion on the island. One of them was the famous Galapagos penguin and the Galapagos fur sea lion, but among the most intriguing of all was the flightless cormorant, Nannopterum harrisi, which is only one of the twenty-nine species of living cormorants to have lost the ability of flight. We had the chance to get a close look at many of these birds since the nesting grounds are located right on the lava flows along the path. Some of them got curious enough to approach the Zodiacs themselves to get a closer look of the “rare species on board.” One, however, paid us no attention whatsoever, being more occupied with eating a newly caught octopus a few feet away from one of the Zodiacs.
It is very well known that the nature of the colonization and establishment process has also played an important role in shaping the Galapagos biota. These islands are scientifically one of the most interesting and best studied of the world’s archipelagos. The opportunity of seeing such a unique species today was superb, and it was only surpassed by the idea of encountering the mythical Galapagos giant tortoises tomorrow, but that’s a different story…
