Galapagos islands

Tower Island and the Birds

Tower Island in the Galapagos is nick-named the Islands of Birds or Bird Island for the millions of birds who call it home. We were lucky, as it was mating season for the masked boobies, blue footed boobies, and frigate birds.

We spent a great deal of time watching the frigate birds as their mating ritual is quite spectacular. The male inflates a pouch below his neck which looks like a huge red valentine to attract his mate. The female can sometimes be pretty choosy and dance around the male for some time before deciding this is the love of her life. After watching one couple for some time, when I left the female still hadn’t made up her mind but she was warming up a bit.

We hiked up Phillips Steps to a plateau. It was a fairly rugged climb and I was glad I was  in pretty good shape. The terrain on the top was rocky.

Boobies were mating all over the area. In addition storm petrels and swallow tail gulls were flying about. Boobies have an intricate mating ritual and they are a lot of fun to watch.

It’s interesting how certain animals inhabit certain islands in the Galapagos. That is nice for the visitor as one can concentrate on one or two animals at a time and not all of them at once. It was a new adventure, island and different animals each day. It was a fabulous trip!

 

Floreana no doubt was named because of its abundant flora. As we hiked, our guide  told us, “Interestingly enough you’ll notice all the flowers on the island are either white or yellow.  That is because only one variety of bee does all the pollinating.”

We hiked a sandy path through lush vegetation. Our destination was a brackish lagoon, home to over a 1000 flamingos. We were told, “You’ll notice all the birds are on the far side of the lagoon away from any trespassers. They don’t like anything taller than they are so you need to squat while you watch them.”    We spent a considerable time watching them.

Leaving the lagoon we hiked over some rather rough terrain to Flour Beach. It was flour

not flower. Why? The beach was a fine white powder-like sand. The beach is appropriately named. The snow white sand was quite a contrast to the brown sandy beach we landed on, yet we were on the same island. A turtle breeding ground,.prevented us from swimming at that beach.   The beach was also home to thousands of hermit crabs. It was fun to watch the little crabs scamper about and then disappear into a hole.

We went ashore at Post Office Bay. Years ago sailors would leave addressed letters in a mailbox there. They also would remove any letters addressed to their destination. When they arrived in port they would stamp and mail the letters they had taken. The custom continues today. We were encouraged to take any letters  addressed to our home town to mail them on our return home.

Every day in the Galapagos was a new adventure and each day seemed to be better than the day before. It is an unusual place and a unique vacation spot--real eco-tourism!