GALAPAGOS BIRDS

In the Galapagos at the confluence of the cold waters from the Humboldt Current and the warm waters of the Panama Currents you can find cold weather birds like Galapagos Penguins living only a few feet away from tropical birds like Pink Flamingos. The Galapagos is home to a staggering number of both sea and land birds. It was in studying the Galapagos Finch that Darwin realized his theory seeing how these small birds had evolved differently to become different species in order to survive the harsh climate of the Galapagos.

Like the Finch their are a number of other endemic birds to Galapagos including the Galapagos Penguin, the Waved Albatross, Flightless Cormorant, Galapagos Hawk, Galapagos Heron, Galapagos Rail and Dove, the large-bill fly catcher, and 4 endemic species of Mockingbird - Galapagos, Floreana, Hood and San Cristobal.

With all these endemic birds some of the Galapagos most loved birds for those visiting the islands include the Booby, the red pouched pirate-like Frigate birds and red billed tropic bird with it's ribbon like tail.

Galapagos Penguins

Penguins do exist on the equator! The Galapagos Penguin (spheniscus mendiculus) is the most northerly occurring of all the penguins. Endemic to the islands at approximately 14 inches in height it is smaller and more duck-like than its southern cousins of the Antarctic. Adult penguins have a bluish-black head, back and flippers when new. Older worn feathers, dull to a brown color. Their underside is white with the exception of a black line along the side and scatter feathers on the chest.

They were brought to the Galapagos by the Humboldt Current, which brings cold waters and nutrients north from Antarctica. The Galapagos Penguins live in colonies feeding on small fish caught while swimming underwater.

Galapagos Penguins mate for life. Nesting occurs throughout the year with the majority of nests being seen between May and January. Some penguins may mate as often as every 6 months. Female penguins lay 1 to 2 eggs each season. The eggs are laid in holes under the lava and the pair shares the responsibility of watching over the nest. In years with warm waters from the El Niño Current, life changes in the Galapagos including heavy declines in the penguin population.

The total population of Galapagos Penguins is a couple of thousand. Nesting occurs on Fernandina and Isabela. The best chances for seeing Galapagos Penguins are on Fernandina, Isabela, Sombrero Chino, Bartolome (where display and mating can be seen), and Floreana. It is rare to see penguins on the other islands.

Darwin's Finch

The Galapagos Islands is home to 13 species of finch, belonging to 4 genera. These finches all evolved from a single species similar to the blue-black grassquit finch (volatina jacarina) commonly found along the Pacific Coast of South America. Once in the Galapagos Islands the finches adapted to their habitat and the size and shape of their bills reflect their specializations. Vegetarian finch and ground finch all have crushing bills while tree finch have a grasping bill and cactus finch, warbler finch and woodpecker finch have probing bills.

All of Darwins Finches are sparrow sized and similar in appearance with gray, brown, black or olive feathers. They have short rounded wings and a rounded tail that often appears cocked to one side. Most male finch mature to a solid black color, while the females mature to a drab grayish color. Exceptions are made for the vegetarian and tree finch the males never become completely black rather they have a black head, neck and upper breast. The warbler finch, woodpecker finch and mangrove finch all have more of an olive color.

The finch vary by what they eat some eating seeds and others insects. The ground finch eat ticks they remove with their crushing beaks from Galapagos Tortoises, and Galapagos Iguanas and kick eggs into rocks to feed upon their contents. On Isla Wolf the sharp beaked ground finch is known as the "vampire finch" as it jumps on the backs of masked boobies and red-footed boobies pecking at their flesh and feeding on their blood. Both the woodpecker finch and mangrove finch use tools such as small twigs and cactus spines to dine on the larva stored in dead tree branches.

Though they have adapted to allow for specialized feeding most finches are generalized eaters. The specialization developed allowing the birds to survive during the dry season or times of drought when little food is available. Then these specialized tools allow the birds to better compete for food sources with other birds and animals.

Nesting Times in the Galapagos Islands

• Waved Albatross:  Apr-May with some eggs in Jun-Jul
• Blue-Footed Booby: Jan-Dec
• Masked Booby: Aug-Feb with some eggs in Mar, May, and Jul
• Red-Footed Booby: Sep-Jan, Mar-July
• Flightless Cormorant: Mar-Sep with some eggs Oct-Feb
• Magnificent Frigatebird: Jun-Sep with some eggs Oct-May
• Great Frigatebird: Jan-Dec
• Lava Gull: Some eggs Feb, Apr-May, Jul-Aug, and Oct-Nov
• Swallow-Tailed: Gull Jan-Dec
• Brown Noddy: Nov-Jul with a some eggs Aug-Sep
• Galapagos Penguin: May-Dec with some eggs Jan to Apr
• Hawaiian Petrel: Feb-Mar and Jun-Jul with some eggs in Aug
• Band-Rumped Storm Petrel: May-Jun and Nov-Dec with some eggs Jan-Feb, Apr, and Jul
• Wedge-Rumped Storm Petrel: May-Jun with some eggs Feb-Mar
• Red-Billed Tropicbird (Plaza): Sep-Jan with some eggs Feb, Jun, and Aug
• Red-Billed Tropicbird (Tower-Daphne): Jan-Dec
• Brown Pelican: Jan-Dec
• Audubon's Shearwater: Jan-Dec