Española Island
Hood Island, named by English pirates back in the 1700’s is known to us today as Española. One of the oldest islands of the chain, 3.8 million years had given animal species more time to evolve in isolation. This particular environment is the home for some endemics of its own… the marine iguanas and the mockingbirds. One of the differences with the marine iguanas of Española is the very attractive green and red coloration the males display during the mating season. Mating season in Galápagos is at the beginning of the hot rainy months of the year, as females walk around looking for a partner. On the other hand, these attractive boys will exhibit this beautiful combination of colors just posing on the rocks waiting to be seen by the females.
The mockingbird of Española is one of the four species present on the islands. Interestingly enough, they are one of the species that got Darwin’s attention back in 1835 when he visited the archipelago. As he collected three of them, he was able to see the physical differences they had. This triggered his thinking so that he was able to realize something strange must be going on in this place; species were closely related, but not the same."There is a difference between the inhabitants of the different Islands…”
As we walked in to the trails that were once pahoehoe lava flows, we had a chance to see the entire breeding cycle of the Nazca Boobies, couples courting, couples making a nest, couples preening each other, parents incubating eggs and finally parents taking turns to protect brand new chicks before the Galápagos hawks that were wandering around taking notice of them…
These are a few of the experiences that make the Galápagos an enchanted archipelago. Nowhere else but here does nature gives us the opportunity to witness this early processes of life taking place right in front of us…
As we got back on board, we realized that this fragile pristine ecosystems need to be conserved in time, not for us or our future generations, but for their own inhabitants, the animal species that belong here and nowhere else!
