Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island is one of those places where just about everything occurs. During our walk today we encountered hundreds of marine iguanas basking in the afternoon sun, sea turtles popping their heads out to gasp for air, spotted eagle rays peacefully swimming in the shallows, shore birds feeding and of course, female sea lions nursing their pups. Great things can also be found in small tidal pools. On Punta Espinosa one can sit quietly and inspect the varied creatures that live in them. We find anemones, small fish and sometimes an octopus!
A combination of sandy terrain and young flows of both pahoehoe and "ah-ah" lava give this place an unusual appearance. Beautifully colored Sally-light foot crabs (Grapsus grapsus) and sea birds such as the Galapagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) and the flightless cormorants (Nannopterum harrisi) decorate the rocky shores.
The highlight of the day for me, and for at least some of the guests that accopanied me this afternoon, was a change of shift between a couple of flightless cormorants. I was explaining the natural history of these birds to our guests. Suddenly, just two meters away from us, a male cormorant emerged from the water, and brought a gift to his mate: a piece of seaweed for the nest. After the female had carefully incorporated the seaweed gift into the nest, she got up off her eggs and exchanged places with the male. Before the male sat down to incubate, we saw that, in addition to two eggs, there was a recently hatched baby chick!
