The sky was clear in Estabrook Park this morning, at least for an hour or so and for the first time since I got back in town, but the air remains cool and breezy. After the hero’s welcome I received on Monday, however, the critters gave me the cold shoulder today. I did see plenty of birds, but not a single one wanted to be in the show, and if it weren’t for this late-season buckeye, in the thistles that are quickly outgrowing the grass planted in the former weed patch by the southern soccer fields, I wouldn’t have a single picture for you.
On the plus side, this does give me a chance to show you a few more sights from my recent trip down south. As you may recall, Deb and I had a couple of hours in Guayaquil, Ecuador after our flight back to the mainland and before it got dark out. Nearly as soon as we stepped out of the hotel, after dropping off our luggage and well before we reached the linear park, I spotted this elegant looking little dove, and it turns out to be our very first Ecuadorian ground dove (Columbina buckleyi)
Right next to the ground dove sat this pair, who are our very first eared doves (Zenaida auriculata). Crazy, right? But it does illustrate the double-edged nature of the wildlife in the Galapagos. Sure, there are amazing sights to be seen there, many of which can be seen nowhere else in the world, but after 8 days on San Cristobal, including a boat tour all the way around the island, Deb and I only managed 31 species of birds, of which 15-16 (depending on the accuracy of my common cactus-finch identification) were new to us. On the other hand, in just two hours on the ground in downtown Guayaquil, we saw 17 species, of which 9 were new to us.
Anywho, speaking of birds on San Cristobal that I’ve never seen before, here’s the best picture I could get of a wandering tattler (Tringa incana). We first saw one on the rocks near the beach with the oystercatchers, we saw our last one on the rocks near the canoodling swallow-tailed gulls, and we saw this one on the rock where we also saw the red-billed tropic bird. Thus, I can vouch for the “wandering” part of their name, but I never heard a peep out of one.
Finally, there were sea lions everywhere, as I mentioned already, and quite a few of them were young pups. Once in a while one of the pups needed a lift, and here’s one getting just such a lift, by the scruff of its neck, from its mom.
Well, that should be the last of my trip pictures, so the critters around here had better come through for me tomorrow, or I’ll be in big trouble.
