Genovesa Island
The grand finale to an unbelievable week in Melville’s “Enchanted Islands” was a day spent in one of the oldest islands of the archipelago, Genovesa. Located to the far north-east of Galapagos, this small island is separated from the rest of the group by relatively deep waters. This allowed it to remain isolated over the years, including during the times of lowered sea levels characteristic of the ice ages. As a result the terrestrial reptiles and rice rats found in many of the central islands are absent from here, and it can truly be called a “bird island”. Indeed, some have even dubbed it “Hitchcock’s Islands” undoubtedly inspired by the myriad menacing frigatebird silhouettes circling in the sky, ever on the watch for feeding opportunities.
Genovesa is almost overcrowded with bird species, it’s location and the absence of the Galapagos hawk making it an ideal nesting ground not only for frigates but many other species, including red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and lava gulls. It now seems that even blue-footed boobies may be counted in the numbers of nesting birds here, according to Thalia Grant and Greg Estes, a couple of scientists who have just spent two weeks on the island and who have caught a ride with us to Baltra, tomorrow’s destination.
A real highlight for all our naturalists was to get the chance to see a couple of nesting lava gulls. The name alone hints at the endemic status of this bird, as most of the islands’ unique organisms have been victims of a somewhat limited imagination by past name-givers – they are almost all called either “lava”, “Galapagos” or “Darwin’s”! This particular gull is one of just two resident gull species, and is considered the rarest gull in the world, as it’s numbers total just 400 pairs or so. This notwithstanding, the bird is not endangered and the population is very stable, the low numbers being due to limited resources for this scavenger – an example of a phenomenon know as density-dependant natural selection. It is also rare to find the nests, which are relatively well hidden – in fact this is one of just two I have encountered in my seven years as a naturalist here. This bird is a particular favorite of mine: though seemingly quite drab it surprises the observer by letting out the most outrageously funny call whilst flashing a brilliant crimson mouth! It will be great to watch how this story develops over the next few weeks!
The grand finale to an unbelievable week in Melville’s “Enchanted Islands” was a day spent in one of the oldest islands of the archipelago, Genovesa. Located to the far north-east of Galapagos, this small island is separated from the rest of the group by relatively deep waters. This allowed it to remain isolated over the years, including during the times of lowered sea levels characteristic of the ice ages. As a result the terrestrial reptiles and rice rats found in many of the central islands are absent from here, and it can truly be called a “bird island”. Indeed, some have even dubbed it “Hitchcock’s Islands” undoubtedly inspired by the myriad menacing frigatebird silhouettes circling in the sky, ever on the watch for feeding opportunities.
Genovesa is almost overcrowded with bird species, it’s location and the absence of the Galapagos hawk making it an ideal nesting ground not only for frigates but many other species, including red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and lava gulls. It now seems that even blue-footed boobies may be counted in the numbers of nesting birds here, according to Thalia Grant and Greg Estes, a couple of scientists who have just spent two weeks on the island and who have caught a ride with us to Baltra, tomorrow’s destination.
A real highlight for all our naturalists was to get the chance to see a couple of nesting lava gulls. The name alone hints at the endemic status of this bird, as most of the islands’ unique organisms have been victims of a somewhat limited imagination by past name-givers – they are almost all called either “lava”, “Galapagos” or “Darwin’s”! This particular gull is one of just two resident gull species, and is considered the rarest gull in the world, as it’s numbers total just 400 pairs or so. This notwithstanding, the bird is not endangered and the population is very stable, the low numbers being due to limited resources for this scavenger – an example of a phenomenon know as density-dependant natural selection. It is also rare to find the nests, which are relatively well hidden – in fact this is one of just two I have encountered in my seven years as a naturalist here. This bird is a particular favorite of mine: though seemingly quite drab it surprises the observer by letting out the most outrageously funny call whilst flashing a brilliant crimson mouth! It will be great to watch how this story develops over the next few weeks!
