Flightless in the Galapagos

We flew from Quito to get to the Galápagos. But how did birds get to the islands?

We guess that some flew, some swam, and others arrived on rafts of vegetation pushed to the Galápagos by the cold Humboldt Current.

There were two flightless birds I was very much looking forward to seeing and both are found nowhere else in the world. The Galápagos are truly the Enchanted Islands when it comes to endemic species.

I grew up on a street named Cormorant Court so these aquatic fish-hunters have always fascinated me. On the California coast we have three species of flighted cormorants: Brandt’s, double-crested, and pelagic. And the cormorant I really wanted to see is the truly ocean dependent flightless cormorant.

We woke up on near the “seahorse’s mouth” on Isla Isabela. As the night turned to day from the deck of the Nemo III, vertical dark “rocks” turned into roosting flightless cormorants.

After an early breakfast at six, we were boarding the panga by 6:40 to get a closer look at the cormorants.

This is the world’s largest cormorant. I guess you can evolve to be bigger when you don’t need to fly. This is the only flightless cormorant and it is only found around the Galápagos islands of Fernandina and Isabela.

Flightless cormorant on Isla Isabela. Photographed from the panga.

Around the “Seahorse’s Mouth” we had some quality panga time with this amazing endemic, both preening on the rocks and swimming in the bay.

Although they are flightless they still need to dry and preen their wings.

After spending time with the cormorants, we boarded the Nemo III and headed over to Fernandina Island to look for another flightless endemic.

We would be birding from the deck of the catamaran, looking for a vertical black and white rock we were hoping to turn into a Galápagos penguin.

This small penguin is the only penguin found north of the equator (but just barely). It is certainly the most northerly or southerly if in the northern hemisphere, penguin as well as the only tropical penguin.

Before long our guide Willy spotted a lone penguin roosting in the rocks with two brown noddies.

A not so great view of my first penguin species.

We had much better views on Islabela. Some were roosting and preening while others were swimming and foraging.

Boobies of the Galápagos

I had seen the red-footed booby before on the coast of California and brown booby is also an infrequent visitor to the coast of the Golden State. But now I was about to see the red-footed really close as well as two other boobies, which would be lifers.

How do you know it’s a red footed? It’s perched in a tree (and it has red feet). This booby is within touching distance her on Genovesa.

One of these boobies is the poster bird of the Enchanted Islands: the blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii).

You will find this booby on t-shirts, posters, signs, carved figurines, and other tourist detritus in the gifts shops.

After landing at Baltra and transferring to our catamaran, the Nemo III, our first stop was North Seymour Island.

North Seymour has a large population of blue-footed boobies and swallow-tailed gulls.

At our landing site we were greeted by a sleeping Galápagos sealion and a preening swallow-tailed gull.

What is amazing about the Galápagos is that the wildlife seems to have little fear of humans. We experienced this over and over again.

If you’re not careful you can end up stepping on a booby in the Galápagos. In this case a Nazca booby. (Disclaimer: no boobies were stepped on during the making of this post!)

The word booby is derived from the Spanish word “bobo”, meaning stupid. Perhaps because of the bird’s tame behavior made them easy to catch by hungry sailors.

At North Seymour, the blue-footeds were in the middle of the trail in the midst of skypointing and wing displays which are their mating rituals. Watching these boobies made me feel like I was in a BBC nature documentary and Sir David Attenborough would step out from a nearby bush at any moment!

To blue-footeds in mid-trail in mid-courtship.

On the following day we had more booby encounters. This time at the island of Genovesa at the Prince Phillip’s Steps. The most common trailside booby was the Nazca booby (Sula granti), another lifer, with red-footeds also in the trees.

A quick sketch of a Nazca on Genovesa that somehow looks like a muppet of the Fraggle Rock era.

The Nazca is one of the largest boobies of the Galápagos. They are mainly white with a black mask (they were once called masked boobies until they were later split). Out of the three boobies that occurs in the Galápagos, the Nazca flies further out that the blue-footed to forage.

Among the sand and leaf litter, in a circle of non-guano, Nazcas were nesting on the ground. Nazcas always lay two eggs. Usually only one bird survives, the first hatched, which outcompetes its younger sibling.

Nemo III

Our vessel for the Galápagos cruise was the catamaran the Nemo III.

It held all thirteen passenger (about half were birders), two guides, and a crew of six. This is like a cruise ship at a smaller scale.

The boat can accommodate 16 passengers in eight cabins. The small galley produced three hearty meals a day which was much appreciated after a day of birding and island exploring.

This catamaran would be our home away from home for eight wonderful days.

Relaxing on the bow while cruising between the islands of the Galápagos.

Over our ten day cruise visiting nine of the Enchanted Islands I sketched from the Nemo III as well as a few sketches of the catamaran from the shore.

While anchored at Genovesa, I sketched our sister ship, the Nemo II.
A continuous line sketch from the port side. Red-footed boobies were getting a free ride on the front railing.
A sketch of the Nemo III from shore on Floreana.

Guango Lodge

I arrived a day early before my Galápagos cruise started so I hired a guide (Andres) for the day and we headed east over the Continental Divide of the Andes Mountains to Guango Lodge.

The logo features one of the top birds on my wishlist.

There were two birds that I really wanted to see in the area and with birding, you are not guaranteed any.

I wanted to add another mountain toucan to my list, on a previous Ecuadorian trip I got plate-billed, and now we walked up the muddy Toucan Trail in our rubber boots looking for a second species.

The trail leveled off at a hide where a vertical forked branch was set up. The caretaker, Daniel, came up behind us to add fresh bananas and grapes to the wooden feeder.

The first bird that visited the feeder was the great thrush. No toucans yet.

This would take a little patience and the hide was covered to keep us dry. While we waited I pulled out my small softbound sketchbook and sketched the wooden fruit feeder.

Waiting on a mountain-toucan.

Off to our right we heard the call of the toucan. Now we waited for it to fly into the open and land on the feeding perch. The bird was cautious, making sure it was safe.

Onto the perch landed the magnificent gray-breasted mountain-toucan. A double hyphen bird of the highest magnitude! Lifer!

After watching the toucan pull grapes at the feeder we headed back to the river to look for another sought after bird.

The furious and frothing Rio Quijos cloaked in gray, reminded me of Herzog’s Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcaraldo. How can a bird possibly survive here among the rapids?

Well one duck not only lives but thrives amongst the Class 6 rapids. And it’s appropriately named the torrent duck.

We walked along the river checking the waters and boulders for this iconic Andean duck.

As we neared the end of the trail I looked downstream and saw a duck bobbing in the frothy rapids. She swam across the river and walked up on a riverside boulder. What an amazingly adapted bird to its turbulent habitat. And what an amazing lifer!

A spread with sketches from my own photos.

After ticking the toucan and duck we returned to the lodge and sat under a shelter from the permanent mist and drizzle, sipping cafe con leche and looked out at the three hummingbird feeders in front of us.

The feeders were very active and I sketched the scene before me (featured sketch).

Out of the 366 species of hummingbirds in the New World (they are found nowhere else), I have seen a mere 96. I have a lot more hummingbirding to do.

Challenge accepted!

Here are a few photos of some of the visitors to the hummingbird feeders at Guango.

Chestnut-breasted coronet.
Long-tailed sylph.

SFO Touchstone (Under the Influence of Billy Collins)

Sitting in a gray swivel chair with gray skies above and the United Boeing 737 below at gate E8.

This was not the plane taking me to Houston nor that plane continuing on to Quito. This plane was heading off somewhere else.

I pull out my sketchbook and pens and start sketching in a continuous line, starting with the nose of the Boeing and reaching back to the tail then reaching out to the starboard wing and down below to the turbine engine and back to the front landing gear.

I have done this sketch many times before at different airports of different planes at different gates.

This is a touchstone sketch, one that I return to while killing time at an airport.

Perhaps it’s not really killing time but a meditation after the chaos of security lines and X-rays, of taking off your belt and hat only to put them on again.

Yes it is a meditation as time flies by (pun intended) and moves ever closer to 8:15, boarding time.

Airport sketch at Quito. UIO is a beautiful setting in the middle of the Andes.

Travel Pouch

With my trip to the Galapagos I wanted to try out a new travel pouch.

This is a good way to keep things organized on the road so you aren’t on a wild goose chase looking for that adapter or power bank.

After a bit of research and YouTube binges (thank you Jon Gadget) I settled on the Maxpedition Mini Pocket Organizer. I love new gear!

As I often do, I sketch a spread about my new travel gear and what I keep inside.

On the left side is a life sized sketch of the 4” X 6” organizer, pointing out it’s specs: YKK zippers, paracord zipper pulls, water resistant 1000-denier nylon fabric, heavy duty grab handle, and high tensile strength nylon webbing on the back.

What I like about the interior is that there are a lot of pockets to help with organizing. The pouch opens up like a book giving you easy access to the interior.

I’m ready for almost anything!

Pocket Carry Journal

I just couldn’t keep it at two journals for the Galapagos. (What if I fill up all the pages?!)

While at the art store I picked up a Stillman & Birn Softcover Beta journal. Because of its small size (3.3” X 5.5”) it is an ideal size to always keep in your pocket so you can sketch wherever you are. An Every Day Carry (EDC) journal.

I am a one bag, one backpack traveler. No checked bags for me! I try not to bring many guide books or field guides to lighten the load. There are certainly many guides relating to the Galapagos. They would stay at home but some of the information would be traveling with me through my sketches.

This is a cross section of Santa Cruz Island showing its Vegetation Zones.

What I did was use the first few pages in my small Beta journal to copy important information that I might want to reference on my trip.

You would think being on the Equator that the Galapagos would be hot but the cold Humboldt Current cools things off.
I wrote some of my favorite Darwin quotes from the Voyage of the Beagle and portrayed Darwin as a Galapagos giant tortoise.

Galapagos Beginnings

For my summer travels I will journey to a long sought after destination: the Galapagos.

I plan to bring two journals for my 10 day cruise around the islands: one Stillman & Birn Beta hardbound and a Hahnemühle 100% Cotton panoramic journal. I have used both before on previous trips and I hope to fill all the pages like Darwin noodling away in his journals.

I like narrowing my journals to just two, like the two banks of a river that contains yet gives direction to my sketches. Will the scene before fit within the dimensions of the paper? I sure will try and if my lines run out of room, it’s just part of the sketch.

These two journals have been on many trips in the past few years. I love the format and the quality paper.

My first page in my Stillman & Birn journal is usually a map. With this map I include a portrait of man who is all over the Galapagos: Charles Darwin. He visited the otherworldly islands in 1835 as the naturalist on the HMS Beagle. And I drew one of Darwin’s finches: the woodpecker finch. (Featured sketch).

Darwin formulated much of his thoughts for his groundbreaking Origin of Species on his five year cruise on the Beagle and his observations and collections on the Galapagos.

Before any trip I never want to go in blind. I want to learn about my future destination and it’s history, flora, and fauna. Before heading south towards the Equator, I read Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner (1995).

This Pulitzer winning book profiles the research of the Peter and Rosemary Grant on the tiny Galapagos island of Daphne Major. There research highlighted evolution in action with the beak lengths of “Darwin’s” finches.

Aquatic Park

On a Wednesday I became a tourist in my own city and headed over Twin Peaks to the Ferry Building.

I went from the N Judah to the F Market to Fisherman’s Wharf. This is the epicenter of the tourist industry in San Francisco. I walked to Aquatic Park to the ship-like structure that is the now the Maritime Museum. It was originally built as the Aquatic Park Bathhouse and opened in January 1939.

I love this historical structure which is great example of Streamline Moderne. Being on the water, the building looks like it could sail away at any moment.

Is this a ship or a bathhouse? Well the answer is neither!

The Aquatic Bathhouse has served as a number of uses, most controversial as a Casio for the rich. The building now houses the Maritime Museum.

The murals by Hilaire Hiler on the ground floor are otherworldly. It took visitors minds away from the Depression.
Benny Bufano’s frog sculpture. At least I think it is supposed to be a frog.

I picked a spot along the curve of Aquatic Park to sketch the former bathhouse in my panoramic sketchbook.

On the other side of the spread I added the Fort Mason Beltline Tunnel, which is just a short distant from my first sketching position. This tunnel is historical and featured in a classic 1971 film.

In the Don Seigel film Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood, the serial killer Scorpio (based on the real Zodiac Killer) sends Inspector Harry Callahan on a wild goose chase around San Francisco. One scene features Eastwood going through the tunnel when he is stopped by some unfortunate thugs.

The State Beltline Railroad ran along the Embarcadero and served the piers along the waterfront. The railroad was in operation from 1890 to 1993.

A very scrawny urban coyote walks by the boarded up Beltline Tunnel.

Benicia-Martinez Railroad Bridge

After sketching some Bay Area railroad ferry history, I wanted to sketch the 1930 railroad bridge that killed off the ferry between Benicia and Port Costa.

As rail traffic increased (both passenger and freight) and the rail ferries aged and needed repair or replacement, this caused more delays on the Overland Route (not to mention delays caused by fog). Southern Pacific looked into building another ferry but soon realized that a rail bridge spanning the strait was the best solution.

The railroad bridge was built for Southern Pacific Railroad between the years 1928 to 1930.

The bridge is impressive because it is the second longest railroad bridge (5,603 ft 6in long) in the country and the longest west of the Mississippi.

The railroad bridge is now flanked to two automobile bridges that cross the Carquinez Strait. One span was built in 1962 while the other completed in 2007.

The longest railroad bridge west of the Mississippi.

Because the bridge is relatively low to the water, 70 feet in fact, a midsection is a drawbridge that allows tall ships to pass through the strait. When the drawbridge is opened, it gives passing ships 135 feet of clearance.

Five locomotives are on point of this Union Pacific westbound mixed consist freight as it comes onto the bridge. This long freight train would take quite a few ferry passages to shuttle across the strait before the bridge was built in 1930. Modern freight trains can be one to two miles long.
There were quite a few car carriers on the consist. The area on the Benicia side is new car transfer point.

Foamer at the Bridge

On a Sunday morning I headed up to the northern side of the Benicia- Martinez Railroad Bridge to the vista point, flanked by the two road bridges, to watch some trains transit the historic bridge.

The view southeast from Vista Point. The railroad bridge is in the middle. The newer road bridge (2007) is on the left, the other (1962) is on the right.
A northbound Capital Corridor train number 720 crossing the bridge. This trains’s final destination is Sacramento.
The good thing about the Vista Point is that you can see northbound trains approaching across the Carquinez Strait like California Zephyr train number 6 running three minutes late. Once the train departs Martinez it will cross the bridge about four minutes later.
California Zephyr Number 6 crossing the bridge. Next stop Davis.
I have yet to cross the bridge on the Zephyr as I usually board the train further north in Colfax.