San Esteban and Rasa Islands, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Among the islands of the Gulf of California with marvelous endemics is Isla San Esteban, one of the midriff islands. At one time it had a population of Seri Indians who lived there with very little water and with a good availability of food, among which were the large chuckwallas or fat iguanas, native to that island. As we landed there today, we walked between the chicks of numerous yellow-footed gulls, which had nested on the beach weeks ago. Today the chicks are big already, soon to fly. We walked into the island, enjoying the interesting vegetation, among which two kinds of cacti are to be found as well as an agave or century plant. As we wandered around the principal arroyo, we found a series of black spiny-tailed iguanas, as well as quite a number of big chuckwallas, all under one of the cholla cactus species, where their body is camouflaged almost perfectly with the roots of the plant, as well as with the dropped segments of the cactus. Butterflies were evident everywhere.
After lunch, we had already sailed to Rasa Island where Dr. Enriqueta Velarde was waiting for us to show us a most marvelous phenomenon of nature: an island with 95% of the world’s population of elegant terns and 95% of the world’s population of Heerman’s gulls. Oh, the racket! As we slowly walked into the island to an overview point, we skirted numerous Heerman’s gulls, with their big chicks, soon to fly away from their birth ground. Later, after a talk by Enriqueta and after the day had cooled off a little, we had Zodiac tours around the small island and visited a nearby rock called Rasito, where, as we watched a medium-sized group of California sea lions, two of the females gave birth to their pups, one of them an albino! What a day!
Among the islands of the Gulf of California with marvelous endemics is Isla San Esteban, one of the midriff islands. At one time it had a population of Seri Indians who lived there with very little water and with a good availability of food, among which were the large chuckwallas or fat iguanas, native to that island. As we landed there today, we walked between the chicks of numerous yellow-footed gulls, which had nested on the beach weeks ago. Today the chicks are big already, soon to fly. We walked into the island, enjoying the interesting vegetation, among which two kinds of cacti are to be found as well as an agave or century plant. As we wandered around the principal arroyo, we found a series of black spiny-tailed iguanas, as well as quite a number of big chuckwallas, all under one of the cholla cactus species, where their body is camouflaged almost perfectly with the roots of the plant, as well as with the dropped segments of the cactus. Butterflies were evident everywhere.
After lunch, we had already sailed to Rasa Island where Dr. Enriqueta Velarde was waiting for us to show us a most marvelous phenomenon of nature: an island with 95% of the world’s population of elegant terns and 95% of the world’s population of Heerman’s gulls. Oh, the racket! As we slowly walked into the island to an overview point, we skirted numerous Heerman’s gulls, with their big chicks, soon to fly away from their birth ground. Later, after a talk by Enriqueta and after the day had cooled off a little, we had Zodiac tours around the small island and visited a nearby rock called Rasito, where, as we watched a medium-sized group of California sea lions, two of the females gave birth to their pups, one of them an albino! What a day!
