Northern Gulf of Panama, Panama
A cloud of birds! That is what we found on our exciting Zodiac cruise around these islands. Late in the afternoon we arrived in the protection ofa small hilly island covered in dense vegetation. The sun had begun its dropping in the sky so the temperature was not so warm as the first group of explorers swung into the small fleet of Zodiacs. Approaching one of the islands we could see the leafless treetops dotted with stately looking Brown pelicans. The trees had not been killed by the perching of the birds or by their whitewash of droppings or guano left behind by hundreds of roosting birds, instead this was the dry season and the trees were conserving water by loosing their leaves. Brown pelicans come to these islands in mid-November to build what they consider to be a tidy nest but to us it looks like a disorganized pile of loose sticks. We could tell that some of the birds were on nests while others were just sitting around. With the strong northerly wind blowing many birds just soared above the island top.
Cruising to a smaller island we were treated with view of about 75 Blue-footed boobies. Some of us had previously seen these birds on trips to the Galapagos. This afternoon these birds seemed to just be resting on small ledges carved into the soft cliff face of the island. The setting sun projected rich yellow color tones on the rock face lighting up the blue feet of some of the individuals. We then sailed down wind to yet another island, which produced the most spectacular scene of the excursion. Even from some distance we could see a loose cloud of black dots hovering over the island’s ridges. Looking up in awe as we approached closer we identified the dots as hundreds of floating frigatebirds. These infamous birds with their 6-7 foot wingspan caught the wind effortlessly as it was pushed in updrafts by the island’s topography. These bird’s, magnificent frigatebirds, infamous status is due to their kleptoparasitic reputation. One of the ways in which they gather food is by stealing it from other birds such as boobies and pelicans and each other. However, in reality the frigatebird also deserves more respect as they do make an honest living gathering their own fish, squid, and other marine food items from the surface of the ocean’s waters. Returning to the ship we then got underway to be pushed along southward by the strong northerly trade winds. During recap Vicky Showler showed us via the ship’s video microscope some of the intertidal organisms that were living at the water’s edge of the island. And then we learned more about frigates and pelicans through a “comical” debate between naturalists Isa Salas and Federico Chacon. We think the frigatebird gathered the most votes as the most popular bird of the day.
A cloud of birds! That is what we found on our exciting Zodiac cruise around these islands. Late in the afternoon we arrived in the protection ofa small hilly island covered in dense vegetation. The sun had begun its dropping in the sky so the temperature was not so warm as the first group of explorers swung into the small fleet of Zodiacs. Approaching one of the islands we could see the leafless treetops dotted with stately looking Brown pelicans. The trees had not been killed by the perching of the birds or by their whitewash of droppings or guano left behind by hundreds of roosting birds, instead this was the dry season and the trees were conserving water by loosing their leaves. Brown pelicans come to these islands in mid-November to build what they consider to be a tidy nest but to us it looks like a disorganized pile of loose sticks. We could tell that some of the birds were on nests while others were just sitting around. With the strong northerly wind blowing many birds just soared above the island top.
Cruising to a smaller island we were treated with view of about 75 Blue-footed boobies. Some of us had previously seen these birds on trips to the Galapagos. This afternoon these birds seemed to just be resting on small ledges carved into the soft cliff face of the island. The setting sun projected rich yellow color tones on the rock face lighting up the blue feet of some of the individuals. We then sailed down wind to yet another island, which produced the most spectacular scene of the excursion. Even from some distance we could see a loose cloud of black dots hovering over the island’s ridges. Looking up in awe as we approached closer we identified the dots as hundreds of floating frigatebirds. These infamous birds with their 6-7 foot wingspan caught the wind effortlessly as it was pushed in updrafts by the island’s topography. These bird’s, magnificent frigatebirds, infamous status is due to their kleptoparasitic reputation. One of the ways in which they gather food is by stealing it from other birds such as boobies and pelicans and each other. However, in reality the frigatebird also deserves more respect as they do make an honest living gathering their own fish, squid, and other marine food items from the surface of the ocean’s waters. Returning to the ship we then got underway to be pushed along southward by the strong northerly trade winds. During recap Vicky Showler showed us via the ship’s video microscope some of the intertidal organisms that were living at the water’s edge of the island. And then we learned more about frigates and pelicans through a “comical” debate between naturalists Isa Salas and Federico Chacon. We think the frigatebird gathered the most votes as the most popular bird of the day.
