#GalapagosFauna

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Wait long enough in a mangrove swamp and you’ll see something magical. In this case, a small school of golden cownose rays. 

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Galapagos finch enjoying a fine cactus flower in the morning

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Please enjoy this video of what is probably my favorite animal behavior I've ever caught on film. These birds are two juvenile Nazca boobies and as you can see one of them is showing off an extremely impressive ability to toss and catch a small rock/dirt clump with their beak. This behavior is believed to be a form of play in young diving birds that serves to train the finely tuned motor skills they'll need to catch fish once they reach adulthood. Suliform birds are some of the best fishers in the world and after observing this level of skill it's easy to see why!

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I caught this magnificent frigatebird chick in the middle of an absolutely enormous yawn but he somehow looks even more ridiculous with his mouth closed

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Boobies definitely don’t deserve the unintelligent reputation they’ve been saddled with but I cannot deny there is something highly comical about the way they walk

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A male magnificent frigatebird (easily identified by the bright red gular pouch) offers a stick in an attempt to woo a taken female (the bird with the black head and red ring around the eye). The female's mate is clearly annoyed!

The white and black bird with the tan chest that looks on is a juvenile of this species, potentially the pair's chick from a previous nesting!

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For my final Galapagos post I wanted to share some of the intimate bird portraits I took in the islands. Can’t even express how amazing it was to see fauna like this up close

1 (Young adult Galapagos penguin)

2 (Male Blue-footed booby)

3 (Female and male magnificent frigatebird)

4 (Galapagos short-eared owl)

5 (Red-footed booby)

6 (Waved albatross)

7 (Courting male and female Nazca booby)

8 (Female magnificent frigatebird and chick)

9 (Galapagos mockingbird)

10 (Large ground finch)

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One of the rarest raptors in the world- the Galapagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis)! This species has an extremely cool breeding behavior called cooperative polyandry, which is not typically seen in birds of prey. In this system male hawks are usually monogamous while females may take up to seven mates during the nesting season. The female and her various mates then work cooperatively to incubate one nest of eggs and raise the chicks to adulthood. Though only one male is the biological father, all males contribute to parenting equally on the chance the chicks in the nest might be their genetic successors. The bird incubating eggs in this video may be the female or any one of multiple mates. 

Also as a bonus you can see another very rare bird, the Waved Albatross, fly past in the background of this video!

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Here is a video of some wild sea lions playing a game with a rock for anyone who needs it today

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Okay I promise I’m almost done Galapagos posting I swear I’ll have it all out of my system in 24 hours! If you’re still with me please join me in appreciating the breathtaking beauty of the Galapagos land iguanas

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Marine iguana enjoying the finest slime this rock has to offer

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It is straight-up dangerous how cute sea lions are like… look at this beast

The whiskers, the eyes, the tiny ears… like I KNOW I can’t pet her I KNOW but how is it fair for her to have such sweet eyes and a pattable head 😭

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Me @ myself on a daily basis: why don’t you go watch some videos of birds preening each other and maybe you’ll calm down

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We have talked a little bit about how the pupils of some birds can serve as field marks in the wild and you might be surprised to learn that oystercatchers are in this group as well! Take a look at this American Oystercatcher that I spotted in the Galapagos and see if you can tell what looks odd about the eye

It’s a weird shape, right? What you’re seeing in this bird’s eye is actually an iridial depigmentation that ornithologists commonly call an “eye fleck”. Here’s a closer look:

We don’t really know why, but recent studies suggest that the presence of this eye fleck is a really good field mark for identifying sex in American oystercatchers, as only females tend to have the feature. Based on this finding, the bird I spotted is female! Though the study I’m referencing was conducted on American oystercatchers in Texas, the researchers found 97% agreement with the sex identification using eye flecks and genetic testing for sex. The eye fleck method is far less invasive and may be as accurate or even more accurate than physically assessing morphometric measurements of each bird. I really love these shorebirds and I just think this is the coolest identification trick ever.

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I was so lucky to see this stunning short-eared owl on Genovesa island in the Galapagos. Owls of this endemic subspecies are slightly smaller than their counterparts on the mainland, and they primarily hunt small birds like storm petrels. Short-eared owls in the Galapagos are clever, often diurnal hunters that can be seen stalking their prey around nesting sites, and even ambushing petrels as they emerge from lava rock tunnels in which they nest.

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Gorgeous octopus that I startled out of its camouflage against a rock. Just got a quick video then left this beauty to get back to octopus business!