Awww! Isn’t that the cutest baby bird you ever saw? Of course, I say that about lots of birds that I see – the Penguin and the Blue-Footed Booby, to name a few. But this cute baby was actually about a foot and a half tall, maybe even two feet – larger than many adult birds. This is a Waved Albatross chick. And I was thrilled to encounter him!

He was standing just a few feet from a path that I, my fellow yacht passengers, and our guide were walking on in Espanola, one of the Galapagos Islands. You might be able to see in the photos that this baby’s fluffy feathers were starting to develop into wings, so that one day very soon, he will be able to take flight, and soar for hours upon hours in the skies above the Galapagos. You might also be able to notice that his bill is turning yellow, a distinctive feature of the Waved Albatross when they are adults.

After I took about a dozen pictures of this one particular baby chick, we continued down the path to a place where several pairs of adult Waved Albatross were lounging in the grass in the sun, many of them pruning their feathers. The yellow beaks are indeed quite noticeable.

After I took about another dozen pictures of one pair of adults in particular, we continued down the path to a cliff so that we could watch the amazing flying of these birds. The Waved Albatross are considered “medium-sized” albatross, as their wingspans “only” get to seven and a half feet (that’s still about two and a half feet taller than I am)! This is compared to the “large-sized” Royal Albatross that I saw in New Zealand, whose wingspan measures up to twelve feet in length. Watching either of these albatross in flight is indeed a wonderful, powerful sight!

After my time overlooking the seas below the cliffs, and watching the soaring albatross above, we walked back on the path, where we not only saw more baby chicks (very cute, huh?),

but also a large egg of an albatross,

as well as a chick with one of its parents, feeding.

And then the ultimate that I saw was a baby albatross, an adult albatross and a Blue-Footed Booby, all together, just lounging in the grass in the sun!!

Sweet Travels!

All photos by Debby

Well, I did it! I saw not only the three above-mentioned birds, but at least a dozen other species of birds while I was traveling in the Galapagos Islands. Success!!

If you have been reading my past six blogs, you have been looking at the wildlife that I encountered in the Galapagos. And, if you read the three blogs prior to that, you heard about the penguins and albatross that I observed in New Zealand and Australia, ending with what is written above in italics. Well, put that together, and I shall now describe the penguins and albatross that I witnessed in the Galapagos! Yippee!!

Needless to say, I was very excited the first time I saw a Galapagos Penguin. It was when I was snorkelling amongst the thousands of colorful fish in the clear blue warm waters. I was told that we might find some of these birds in the area, so I was definitely looking out for them. I swam down the side of some cliffs, keeping my eyes peeled for a penguin, while still watching the sealife below.

I traveled around a corner of the cliffs, and there one was lone penguin, standing on a small rock, much like a very tiny island in the water! My heart pounded at the sight of him. He just stood there, lounging on the rock in the sun, as I swam towards him. I got as close as I could, still keeping many feet away, as not only did I not want to scare him away, but I also wanted to respect his boundaries. I had a waterproof underwater camera with me, and took a few pictures, with a smile on my face, as he kept standing there posing for me.

After my time with this lone penguin, I continued to swim towards another area near the cliffs, where several more Galapagos Penguins were lounging on the rocks in the sun. Again, I swam up close, but gave them their distance, and took more pictures.

And then I just stayed there. I didn’t want to swim away. I just wanted to watch these creatures. No one else was around for these moments, and I felt so lucky, appreciative and in awe to be so close to these beautiful birds!

I was hoping that at least one of these pengiuns would dive into the water and swim near me, so I could watch this behavior underwater. But alas, they were quite content soaking up the warmth of the sun.

I finally swam away, quite content myself, of my time with these Galapagos Penguins.

I saw only a couple more penguins here and there from a distance during the rest of my entire Galapagos trip. So it was really those moments, with the lone penguin on his island, and my time with the few that were lounging on the rocks in the sun, that made memories for me which will last forever.

Please read my next blog for my time amongst the Waved Albatross of the Galapagos Islands.

Sweet Travels!

Photos by Debby

Blue-Footed Boobies

The Blue-Footed Boobies are excellent dive-bombers, making big splashes in the waters around the Galapagos Islands. You might think that they do this to go along with their clown-like looks, as perhaps they are performing some high aerial acrobatic stunt that ends in the water as you might see in a circus. But really this behavior serves a very important purpose…food. They dive in the water to catch fish, and are actually quite skilled at this. And believe it or not, when one Booby spots a school of fish, he will signal to his friends by a whistle, and they will all dive-bomb together.

Dive-Bombing

Going back to the mating rituals, the male also presents to the female some sort of gift, perhaps even a dowry, such as a twig or a stone. The male picks up this piece from the ground, and offers it to the female possibly as a symbol of his love for her. Very sweet. (I, of course, would prefer diamonds over twigs.)

Egg Relocation

Going back to the breeding rituals, the Blue-Footed Booby will take an unhatched egg and move it around on the bare ground with its beak, as if relocating the egg to perhaps a better place. Honestly, I’m not really sure why the Boobies do that with their eggs. While it might demonstrate a silly behavior, I am sure that there is a very good explanation.

Mommy Booby Feeding Baby Booby

Seeing all of this up-close during my Galapagos trip was wonderful. Witnessing a wide range of Blue-Footed Booby behaviors (the mating dance, the moving of eggs, the dive-bombing, the gift-giving, etc.), observing a variety of ages (from eggs to days old to weeks old to young adults, etc.), and viewing several different combinations of Boobies (from one Booby at a time, to a mother with an egg, to a mother with a baby, to two adults, to families, etc.) were one of the many highlights of my travels. In fact, the Blue-Footed Booby is one of the main reasons I went to the Islands!

On a Rock…

And Flying Away…All At Once

Most of the time, I was actually quite close to these creatures, sometimes feet from them, as these “tame wildlife” did not fly away when a human came close. On my last morning, however, I witnessed an amazing sight from a distance. On a rock, several small flocks of Blue-Footed Boobies would land, one flock at a time, to what seemed like to add up to be hundreds of Blue-Footed Boobies on one long rock. And then, all at once, they all took off in flight, as if they decided, all at once, that they had somewhere to go! Now that was certainly not a silly sight, but something quite amazing!! Kind of like a well-choreographed dance.

Sweet Travels!

Oh, and maybe I should include one last photo of the souvenir Blue-Footed Booby that I bought for my boyfriend.

All photos by Debby