One of the stranger sights in the Isla Santa Cruz town of Puerto Ayora is at the Charles Darwin Research Station. It is not one of the many living tortoises living there but a nonliving piece of taxidermy.
There is one tortoise that was a world wide celebrity, his passing was covered around the world. He is an endling, the very last of his subspecies, Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii. His name is Solitario George (Lonesome George).
George was found in 1971 on the small island of Isla Pinta (23 square miles). The island’s vegetation had been decimated by introduced feral goats. He was the last of his subspecies ever found and moved to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz.
The research station preserves and breeds giants tortoises and works on conservation to protect their habitats around the Galapagos.
A young tortoise breed at the center will one day be released to its home island.
George lived at the center for 40 years, being cared for by Fausto Llerena. Being the last of his kind, he was a popular attraction at the center.
After George was found dead, he was sent to New York to be preserved by the Museum of Natural History.
He was then sent back to Ecuador where there was a fight as to where he would be displayed: Quito or the Galápagos. In the end, the Galápagos won and George is now on Isla Santa Cruz.
“It is a hideous-looking creature, of dirty black colour, stupid and sluggish in its movements”
–Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle
While there is much attention and focus on the endemic avian fauna of the Galápagos we should not forget the unique reptiles of the Enchanted Islands.
One of the reptiles that I was really looking forward to seeing was the world’s only aquatic lizard: the marine iguana.
Now this is the iguana that, without fail, features in any nature documentary about the Galápagos.
The marine iguana, as the name implies, is at home to the coastal salt waters of the Pacific. They are only found in the Galápagos Islands.
While I have seen a green iguana in Belize swimming across a stream, its distant relative spends much more time in the tides of the Pacific foraging underwater for sea vegetation.
The large marine iguana statue at Floreana.
We had many encounters with marine iguanas on the different islands that we visited. Like the birds of the Galápagos, they show no fear of humans. Our guide told us to be careful and not step on an iguana. They certainly do not move out of the way when approached.
Marine iguanas spent a lot of time out of the water sunning themselves in between foraging for seaweed. A loose sketch from one of my photos of a group of iguanas warming up.The marine iguanas cover the lava. They are cold-blooded and foraging in the cold Humboldt Current of the Galápagos means they need to huddle together to warm up.
While the Nemo III was anchored off the small Galapagos island of Santa Fe I sat at the stern and panted the landscape before me with the panga in the foreground.
On a Friday morning we visited one of the most pristine beaches in all the Galapagos: Bahia Gardner.
As our panga arrived, we were greeted by a seal lion in the surf who was between us and our chosen landing site. Here sealions rule the beach!
We walked up the beach and were greeted by the other ambassadors of Bahia Gardener: the Espanola mockingbird.
These mockingbirds aren’t hard to find because they find you. They readily approach beach visitors, inspecting your shoes or sandals. If you set your pack down it will be surrounded by mockingbirds, pecking at pockets and straps.
A mockingbird about to nutmeg Dave.
There were a fair number of Galapagos sea lions hauled out on the beach. Plenty of relatively stable subjects in repose to sketch.
I walked the beach adding sea lions to my spread (featured sketch).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Corvid Sketcher 