Day 161, Year 1: Day Two on the Sulidae
Date: Monday, March 27, 2006
Weather: Clear Blue Skies and Hot
Windbird’s Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
Sulidae’s Location: North Seymour and South Plaza Island
First Stop: North Seymour
Highlight: Land of Mating Frigate Birds and Blue-Footed Boobies
We started our morning by heading to North Seymour. This is an island just north of Santa Cruz. Lenny, our naturalist guide aboard the Sulidae, had briefed us on Sunday evening of what we should see during our travels on Monday. North Seymour is a very small island of volcanic rock uplifted from the ocean bottom. It is dry and has only a few Dwarf Palo Santo trees and Opuntia cacti, but it is home for lots of sea lions, marine iguanas, and as mentioned in the “highlight” for this stop–mating frigate birds and blue-footed boobies. The Sulidae anchored and we headed ashore in the panga. The rocky shore was lined with birds of all kinds, as well as sea lions and iguanas. Once we were ashore, we started our walk through a Blue-footed Booby colony. We did not see nesting boobies here, but we saw many couples engaged in the courtship rituals. They do a little dance, raising one foot and then the other, and then the male spreads his wings. The pairs we were watching stood side by side and often their beaks would touch. It looked like they are kissing! They are such funny looking birds with such bright blue webbed feet and we were thrilled to see so many.
As we continued our walk across the island, we next came to a Frigate Bird nesting area. Frigates have the largest wingspan-to-weight ratio of any species of bird. Their wingspan is as large as an albatross. They look like they simply hang in the sky, hovering and gliding everywhere here in the Galapagos. The males are black and the females are black with a white throat patch. There are two varieties found here: the Magnificent Frigatebird and the Great Frigatebird. The Magnificent has a purple sheen to their black feathers while the Great has a green sheen. The spectacular thing about these birds is the bright red throat patch displayed by the male during mating season. That is now and the males were gliding through the air with their red “balloons” fully inflated. It was spectacular to watch. And then we came to the nesting area and there were pairs everywhere sitting in the tops of the low Saltbush in their nests of sticks. The red throat pouch is just beautiful. We also saw many young frigates
There were many land and marine iguanas here and lots of seals, but the birds definitely stole the show. After returning to the Sulidae for a snack, we then snorkled along the low, rocky coastline. We saw lots of beautiful fish here. Some of the varieties were the same as those we had seen in the Caribbean, but the fish here must take vitamins. They were much larger than their Caribbean relatives. The King Angelfish was one of our favorites. It is the only angelfish in the Galapagos and is a dark bluish-purple with a white stripe cutting right across its middle from top to bottom. The dorsal and and anal fins are a bright orange to yellow and there is a “crown” of light blue dots on the forehead. The ones we saw were close to the maximum length of a foot and a quarter. We also saw Giant Damselfish which are a dark blue with white edging along the fins, Yellowtail Surgeonfish, and Orangeside Triggerfish. These fish were about the same size as the King Angelfish, some a little smaller. We saw lots of smaller Yellowtail Damselfish and Panamic Sergeant Majors. The Sergeant Majors are usually yellow-white with vertical black stripes, but many of the ones we saw today were blue. We found out that the color change happens in the breeding male. We saw lots of Leather Bass which are gray to olive green in color with white blotches and small black spots all over the body. There were Blue-Chin Parrotfish which we had seen in the Caribbean, but a new addition was the Bumphead Parrotfish which indeed has a big bump on its head. Another fish we saw with a bump on its head was the Mexican Hogfish. The most colorful of the small fish here was the Cortez Rainbow Wrasse which sports colors of violet to reddish green to blue. Needless to say, snorkeling here was beautiful, but add to the fish the fact that we were swimming with sea lions at the same time. These guys are so graceful in the water and not the least bit afraid of humans. It wasn’t quite lunchtime and we were already becoming overwhelmed with the Galapagos wildlife. We are beginning to understand why these islands are often called the “Enchanted Isles”.
Second Stop: South Plaza Island
Highlights: Iguanas, “Charlie” the Sea Lion, Tropicbirds, and Nesting Swallow-tailed Gulls
We left North Seymour and motored past the white sands of Mosquera Islet. As we headed south, Santa Cruz island was to starboard and we were able to observe the volcanic rock wonders along the coast. In a couple of hours, we arrived at South Plaza. This island was also uplifted by tectonic action. There is a North and South Plaza, but no visitors are allowed on North Plaza due to scientific research underway there. Close-by, Cerro Colorado, known as the Red Rock, rises up out of the sea. South Plaza is covered by Sesuvium or Carpetweed in various shades of green, yellow, and red. It indeed does look like a carpet on the rocky island. The type of carpetweed that grows here is Sesuvium edmonstonei and is endemic to this island. We were greeted at the dock by “Charlie”, a famous territorial male sea lion who lives here with his harem. He has been known to be quite aggressive, even biting if you get too close, but today he stayed in the water and just barked at us.
This island is home to many iguanas, both land and marine. The yellow-brown land iguanas had mustard yellow heads and were literally everywhere. We now know why one of the t-shirts sold in the Galapagos has a caution sign with “iguana” written on it. We had to watch constantly or risk stepping on one of the tails of these prehistoric looking creatures. On the south side of the island, there is a dangerous cliff where guides have actually fallen and been killed or hurt badly. We proceeded cautiously but truly enjoyed the to see their speckled eggs. They nest right on the rocks on the cliff. The sea lions, marine iguanas, and birds all live in harmony here. We snorkeled here after our walk and had a great time with the sea lions. Louis, one of the guys on our tour from Switzerland engaged in a sea ballet with the friendly sea lions and it was quite a show. I added one new fish to my list—the Giant Hawkfish, also known as the Hieroglyphic Hawkfish due to its interesting designs.
