Author: corvidsketcher

Galápagos Top Predator

When you think of apex predators some iconic animals come to mind: Tyrannosaurus rex, African lion, orca, great white shark, polar bear, jaguar, saltwater crocodile, and harpy eagle.

The apex terrestrial predator of the Galápagos is not a mammal or a reptile but a raptor.

This is one of the larger buteo (broad winged) hawks in the world: the aptly named endemic Galápagos hawk.

The hawk is found on most of the major islands and preys on a wide variety of the island’s fauna, from giant centipedes to booby nestlings to marine iguanas.

On our journey around nine of the islands we saw hawks on three: Fernandina, Espanola, and Santa Fe.

In 1835, Darwin notes how tame the local hawks were as he writes in the Voyage of the Beagle:

“Extreme tameness…is common to all the terrestrial species…A gun is here superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk off the branch of a tree.”

We did not get near close enough to knock a hawk out of a tree but we did have some good looks at the Enchanted Island’s top predator.

Our first look was at Punta Espinoza at the northwest tip of Fernandina Island. Our non-birder heart surgeon first spotted a juvenile on a cliff from the panga.

We later encountered the Galápagos’ top predator while looking at waved albatross on Espanola.

On Espanola, we saw an adult soaring on the same updrafts as the albatross.

Waved Albatross

There is something mystic about an albatross (think Rime of the Ancient Mariner) and seeing one is always special.

Most of my sightings have been from the deck during a pelagic boat trip. Sometimes the sightings aren’t quality as the bird appears and disappears among the swells. Fleeting and always leaving you wanting more.

On the island of Espanola, I was about to have one of the closest encounters with albatrosses anywhere.

As with the boobies, the albatross were tame and we often had to walk around them as they sat in the trails.

A young albatross sitting in the trail. It was remarkable to see these largely pelagic birds on solid rock.

As we headed to Punta Suarez, an albatross dropped out of the air and made a rough landing. The male greeted his partner with head swerving, skypointing, bill-gapping, and bill fencing. Watching this from such close range made me feel like I was in a BBC documentary. Now all we need was Sir David Attenborough to narrate the behavior.

A mated pair bonding. The male is bill-gapping.
An albatross in flight is a beautiful sight.

At Punta Suarez we paused to take in the sights and I had time to sketch the scene before me.

Chicken Truck

While visiting the largest island of the Galápagos, Isabela. At 1,771 square miles, it is larger than all the other islands of the Galápagos combined. The population of Isabela is about 2,000.

We took the Panga to the dock at busy Puerto Villamil but we needed transportation to get up to the wet highlands to look for some Galápagos specialties.

Enter Papi and his painted “Chicken Truck”. Papi is a jovial man with a striking resemblance to St. Nick (come Christmas, he dresses up as Santa Claus to the delight of the youth of Isabela).

On the eight side panels he painted some of the fauna of the island: pelican, penguin, marine iguana, boobies, sea turtle,sealion, and tortoise.

A field sketch of our ride up to the highlands in the Chicken Truck. This was a challenge to do on bumpy country roads.

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.