As promised, we have blue-footed boobies here, and this one is on break from fishing in the harbor. I was tempted to make a booby joke, but I’ve opted not to stoop so low, for once.
Less flashy, perhaps, but no less surprising in appearance is the lava gull (Leucophaeus fuliginosus), which are almost the same color, by some odd coincidence, as the lava heron I showed you yesterday. They are supposed to be the only gull with all dark plumage, and they are “endemic to Galápagos,” so there’s that.
Another creature “found only on the Galápagos Islands,” is the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). Like the sea lions I mentioned yesterday and many of the birds here, they seem totally unconcerned by people and lounge all along the waterfront here in town.
The most common bird we’ve seen, at least in town and the park nearby, is this small ground-finch (Geospiza fuliginosa). It is “one of Darwin’s finches[, and is also] endemic to the Galápagos Islands[,” but is actually] in the tanager family, Thraupidae. “Come on, Charles!”
Finally, Deb and I took a hike yesterday afternoon in woods north of town and around the San Cristóbal Gianni Arismendy Environmental Interpretation Center. There we saw smooth-billed anis, like the one I showed you from Brazil back in ’23, more ground finches, and yellow warblers, but the star of that show has to be this darling Galapagos flycatcher (Myiarchus magnirostris), which is one more creature “endemic to Galápagos.”
That’s gonna be it for fun and games for a while. Tomorrow we all start working at the nearby veterinary clinic, and I learned today that my responsibility will be cleaning, sorting, and sterilizing the surgical instruments. I’ve still got plenty of pictures to keep sending you daily posts, but wish me luck in my new role tomorrow.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 