Feb 16

Feb 16 They Become... Birdwatchers

We spent 8 days on a cruise through the Galapagos. On our second day, we went to Genovesa Island for bird watching. To be honest, we were apprehensive as we were on this trip more for the penguins and other marine life. But then we saw all of the gorgeous birds and fell in love. Here are some of our favorite photos of the birds we were lucky to see throughout the week.

Nazca Booby

We walked around Darwin Bay, a coral sand beach where we had snorkeled around earlier in the day. Our guides nicknamed this place “suburbia” because it is where you find the nazca boobies either mating or taking care of their eggs. We saw baby birds still with all their fluff, a baby bird being fed a fish by his mama by diving his beak into her open beak, and … a male and female nazca booby mating (middle photo!).

Nazca Boobies practice siblicide. The female usually will raise two eggs, but the first egg is laid 4-9 days before the second one. This is so the female ensures she has at least one baby (in case first one is unsuccessful, which is is 25+% of the time). However, if the first one comes out, the parents will not acknowledge the second baby who will then quickly die from hunger, temperature changes, or being hunted by predators.

One final horrifying story we learned: if a baby bird demands too much food from their parents, the parents will then fly away to find this food leaving the baby alone. Usually, at least mom or dad stay with the bird - but not this time. Other birds then fly over to visit the baby bird. They bring gifts (e.g. a branch) and then they rape and peck the bird. They peck the birds neck and because of the blood, it will attract other birds who come. It is unlikely that all these birds murder the baby, they just also peck. But what is likely is that the baby bird dies from infection.