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Click on any of the thumbnail images to see a larger version.
Zenaida galapagoensis. This photo was taken on North Seymour Island.
The blue eye-ring is really nice.
Zalophus californianus. These are basically the same sea lions that
you find off the California coast. There is another type of sea lion in the Galápagos
Islands called the fur seal. We saw these on almost every island; this particular pair
was on Hood Island.
I think what's happening here is that the baby is confused about exactly where its
mother's nipples are. It spent quite a bit of time sucking on her ear.
Ardea herodias. This is the same as the one in the United States. We
found it on Fernandina Island.
Buteo galapagoensis. This one was chasing an immature marine iguana
around on the sand of the beach on Fernandina Island.
The hawk finally cornered it under a rock and
it was paying so much attention to the iguana that we photographers were able
to get reasonably close. The iguana eventually escaped.
Philodryas sp. (?) We spotted this snake on the lava on Fernandina
Island. It was crawling around, chasing the land iguanas. We saw it stalking
one of them, but the iguana saw the snake, and every time the snake got too
close (closer than about a meter), the iguana would run away for another meter
or so. Eventually the snake gave up.
The snake doesn't always miss; on my Galápagos
1997 trip page
there's a series of photos of a Galápagos snake taking an immature
marine iguana. The snake is a constrictor, as is obvious from the photos on
that page. Be sure to look at the full-sized photo on that page.
Creagrus furcatus. These birds were very common also. This particular
one was on Tower Island. I probably shot a whole roll of film trying to get a
decent shot of these birds and of the Frigatebirds in flight.
Dendroica petechia. I took this photo in the mangroves of Floreana
Island, although the birds were faily common. We often saw them on the lava
flows right on the ocean where they were obviously finding something good
to eat.
Nyctanassa violacea. This was on Fernandina Island sitting absolutely
still and doing nothing.