Santa Cruz & North Seymour Islands
Today was the perfect day to encounter both terrestrial animals and sea birds. The island we went first is called Santa Cruz. Shortly after our early morning wake up call, we headed to the highlands to explore a place known as “El Chato.” This place is famous for being located right at the boundaries of the giant tortoise reserve and migration route. These ancient reptiles usually roam these ever-green areas until the beginning of the rainy season (around the end of December) and use it as their main feeding grounds.
We got off the local buses that transported us and began our exploration to an old fresh-water lagoon. This has been one of the areas that these reptiles have used as water supply for centuries, maybe even millennia. Luckily, we found two males and one female feeding on the elephant grass, quite abundant on this area.
Another of the main attractions were the famous Darwin’s finches. They were very active feeding on the seeds found all over the muddy areas. This was a paradise for bird watchers, as some of the Galápagos mockingbirds appeared on the scene as well. As we were strolling through the bushes, we spotted the rare dark billed cuckoos. This was not at all a common sighting, and you could see that when looking at the enthusiastic faces on both naturalists and serious bird watchers.
We also explored a nearby lava tunnel and all of our guests, especially our younger explorers, were astonished to see such a natural formation formed millions of years ago. The rest of the morning was dedicated to explore another region of the island of Santa Cruz, Puerto Ayora city.
In the afternoon we reached North Seymour Island and visited the nesting grounds of the magnificent and great frigate birds. We had a great view of their famous inflated red gular sacks, looking for the best suitable female to share the season. We even saw young immature frigate birds and some of the very fluffy babies as well.
One of the greatest moments today was the rare sighting of a red-footed booby on a tree. Red-footed boobies are found nesting in large numbers at the peripheral islands of the Galápagos. We normally don’t see them in the central realm of the archipelago; and, as this is where we were located, it was truly a special moment for everyone.
Our day was complete with a male sea lion trying to chase everybody who approached his territory and managed to scare some of us quite efficiently, causing general amusement in everyone.
Today was the perfect day to encounter both terrestrial animals and sea birds. The island we went first is called Santa Cruz. Shortly after our early morning wake up call, we headed to the highlands to explore a place known as “El Chato.” This place is famous for being located right at the boundaries of the giant tortoise reserve and migration route. These ancient reptiles usually roam these ever-green areas until the beginning of the rainy season (around the end of December) and use it as their main feeding grounds.
We got off the local buses that transported us and began our exploration to an old fresh-water lagoon. This has been one of the areas that these reptiles have used as water supply for centuries, maybe even millennia. Luckily, we found two males and one female feeding on the elephant grass, quite abundant on this area.
Another of the main attractions were the famous Darwin’s finches. They were very active feeding on the seeds found all over the muddy areas. This was a paradise for bird watchers, as some of the Galápagos mockingbirds appeared on the scene as well. As we were strolling through the bushes, we spotted the rare dark billed cuckoos. This was not at all a common sighting, and you could see that when looking at the enthusiastic faces on both naturalists and serious bird watchers.
We also explored a nearby lava tunnel and all of our guests, especially our younger explorers, were astonished to see such a natural formation formed millions of years ago. The rest of the morning was dedicated to explore another region of the island of Santa Cruz, Puerto Ayora city.
In the afternoon we reached North Seymour Island and visited the nesting grounds of the magnificent and great frigate birds. We had a great view of their famous inflated red gular sacks, looking for the best suitable female to share the season. We even saw young immature frigate birds and some of the very fluffy babies as well.
One of the greatest moments today was the rare sighting of a red-footed booby on a tree. Red-footed boobies are found nesting in large numbers at the peripheral islands of the Galápagos. We normally don’t see them in the central realm of the archipelago; and, as this is where we were located, it was truly a special moment for everyone.
Our day was complete with a male sea lion trying to chase everybody who approached his territory and managed to scare some of us quite efficiently, causing general amusement in everyone.
