James Bay and "Chinese Hat" - April 29

Wake-up this morning found us making way between Isabella to the west and Santiago to the east. As we arrived at James Bay, both sister ships were already at anchor and preparing to head for shore. We followed shortly after and made the hike over to the "grottoes" where we enjoyed our best views of Galapagos Fur Seal.

A couple of new birds for the trip were here including Galapagos Flycatcher and Striated Heron. Both offered great photo ops, the former yielding my best results. We had time to do some swimming or snorkeling with a noisy sea lion before returning to Letty for lunch and a motor south.

We traveled through a series of islands known as the "Bainbridge Islands" to one that was clearly the bowl of an ancient volcano. Letty pulled up to a spot where we could just see over the rim and into the lagoon enclosed inside. About 20 Greater Flamingos foraged along the shores and six White-cheeked Pintail floated further out.

Over the lagoon, I spotted two Galapagos Hawks, on eventually leading me to find a nest and single young bird (offspring) about half way up the steep side. The nest appeared substantial and perhaps four feet high and two and a half feet wide. I had never seen a buteo nest so large, resembling something more like an eagle's nest that had been built upon for many seasons. At a distance the nest appeared to have been made from many sticks, dead vegetation, and perhaps mud. Our local guides vowed to name the bird nest after me, "Andy's Nest;" forever to be known as such.

Not far from here is the island known as "Chinese Hat," an unusually shaped smaller island where the snorkeling is stupendous. This was by far the best collection of tropical fish, variety and volume of each species unequalled in my experience.

On return to the boat, a sea lion had taken up residence on the aft platform and had little thought of leaving. Sam thought this great!

As I sat and wrote, I watched a small group of Galapagos Shearwater as they enter an overhang perhaps their nest site or a roost for the night. Should have asked the panga driver to take me over to see. Next time I will not hesitate.

Forgot to mention that when at the grottoes, Sam was the first to spot a White-tipped Reef Shark as it slowly cruised close to the surface. He was pleased and anxious to get a picture. He was successful!

Galapagos Dove





Small Ground Finches




Medium Ground Finch

Isabella and Fernandina - April 28
I was up before the wake-up call with first light, still motoring along between Isabella and Fernandina. Impressive high peaks, calm seas, and a slowly burning off fog made the morning magical. White-vented Storm-Petrels drifted by the boat, searching the surface for delectables; numerous encounters with Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) as well as Pacific Green Sea Turtles.

Our first stop was to launch the pangas just north of Tagus Cove on Isabella's west side. We traveled the cliff side, ducked into a couple of caves, and saw wonderful fish, crabs, our first Galapagos Penguins and Flightless Cormorant. The caves hosted Brown Noddy and Blue-footed Boobies and much marine life including schools of fish and sea turtles.

Letty was already anchored deep in Tagus Cove by the time we arrived. We headed for a "dry landing" and short but steep hike up to the rim overlooking Darwin's Lake; a medium sized lake resembling a salt rimmed Margareta. Legend has it that Darwin upon seeing the lake exuberantly went looking to sample what he thought would be fresh water only to find it very briny and many times saltier than the nearby sea water.

After the hike and a quick stop back on Letty, we headed off for some "deep water" snorkeling off the sides of the pangas. It was clear to all the the highlight of the day was swimming with the many sea turtles and for some swimming with a group of four penguins. the water was the coldest we had encountered yet, but the wetsuits did a nice job of taking the bite out.

After lunch, we found ourselves anchored just off of Fernandina's Punta Espinosa, an incredible landscape of 100 year old lava floes and carpets of Marine Iguana. Large and small were stacked and lay side-by-side in an almost comical sun bathing display. Frequent sounds of iguana clearing their nostrils of salt were accompanied by the complaints of interacting sea lions. American Oystercatcher, Semi-palmated Plover, and Wandering Tatler were familiar to most. A lone sea turtle rested on the beach allowing us the chance for great photographs. A Bryde's Whale skeleton was striking, its bleached white bones on the dark background of the lava.

Back on board, we motored west across the north end of Fernandina to the site of the current volcanic activity. About 2-3 hours later we sat off shore to enjoy the show. About 2 kilometers up the slope was the main vent where with binoculars one could see some good detail of the lava shooting into the air, great clouds of smoke, and some closer glowing lava right down to the shore; a first volcanic experience for many.



Sally Lightfoot Crab

Marine Iguanas

Pacific Green Sea Turtle

Galapagos Penguin

Darwin Bay - April 27
A 7AM wake-up announcement found us anchored in Darwin Bay at Isla Genovesa with many new birds in sight from the boat including Red-footed Boobie, Swallow-tailed Gull, and Red-billed Tropicbird.












After breakfast and a short panga ("Zodiac") ride to the landing point at Prince Phillip's Steps, we climbed the crater rim to the head of the trail. Large Ground Finch and Warbler Finch greeted us as did many Galapagos Mockingbirds. Nesting birds included Great Frigatebird, Red-footed Boobie, and Nazca Boobie. We walked through the scrub to the open areas of lava to the east where thousands of Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels cruised low on their way back to nest sites. An incredible number of birds! The area clearly brought the thought that Darwin had marveled at the unique sites and witnessed many a bird and animal spectacle.













We enjoyed great views of the local race of Short-eared Owl who clearly was benefiting from the great numbers of storm-petrels. Three Waved Albatross glided over the colony, perhaps evaluating the area as a potential new nest site.













I forgot to mention the Sharp-beaked Ground Finch and the many Galapagos Doves! Could have stayed here longer just meditating over the years Darwin must have done the same over what he had seen.














In the mid-afternoon, we went over to the beach for a nature walk, swimming, and snorkeling. Many Galapagos Sea Lions on the sand. New birds included Lava Gull, Wandering Tattler, Whimbrel, and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. The Lava Gull was impressive, its feathering matching the landscape so completely. Good looks at Red-billed Tropicbirds and Swallow-tailed Gull. A few Galapagos Shearwater came close. This night we motored 14 hours to the west side of Isabella.













Short-eared Owl















Young traveler and sea lions










Galapagos Shearwater













Swallow-tailed Gull

Back from Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

I now know why they call this the "Number One Natural History Destination!" What a stupendous place and experience. I recently returned from this great trip with the nine other enthusiastic travelers. Everyone had a great time, and I am sure will rave about the sights, sounds, volanic landscape, close encounters with wildlife, and so much more for years to come. Make sure this is on your bucket list!

Most of our group spent the first three days in the Ecuadorian highlands, with many hummingbirds (Booted Racket-tail...OMG!), tanagers, toucanettes, and even more exotic species than one might immagine, but that is a story for another time. On to the Galapagos!

We departred the mainland and after about a two hour flight got our first glimps of the island from the air with its rugged volcanic coastline, black lava, and patches of torquoise sea. Land of Darwin, Giant Tourtoise, Flightless Cormorant, the most northern penguins, sealions, and all that we as kids remember from National Geographic Magazine. It was all here.

After much waiting at immigration and a short panga ride to in the harbor of San Cristobal, we arrived at our home for the next week, the very comfortable MY Letty. What a great boat and crew who instantly started to take care of us with food, drink, information, and unequalled kindness. We were kings and queens in paradise!

We motored for a short way to a nearby cove and beach for our first birding and swimming. Both were wonderfully welcoming with great views of Blue-footed Boobie, Galapagos Sealion, our first of Darwin's finches, Galapagos Shearwater, and White-vented Storm-Petrel. Outstanding!

Enjoy the photos and I will post more about the trip in the coming weeks. Hope you enjoy it.

AG

Cuba Bird Study Program

Our group of enthusiastic census takers recently returned from a great trip to Cuba. We not only counted and documented many neotropical migrants but were lucky to see all the "gettable" endemic and soon to be endemic bird species.

Our first few days for a small group of four was spent birding in Mexico where we not only saw some great birds but also visited a couple of great archaeological sites at Tulum and Chichen Itza. Both sites were outstandingly inspiring and must have been even more so when their civilizations were at their peak. I could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of the struggle and loss of human life that must have gone on here, especially at Chichen Itza. If you have the chance, do not miss this experience. I am planning a Yucatan Peninsula tour that will include these two sites not too far in the future. There are some birds that are endemic to the area making this destination doubly interesting.

This was my second trip to Cuba and interesting to see some of the changes that had taken place in three years. There were not many, but the most prominent were the number of people using cell phones and the new public buses in Havana. The endemic birds were spectacular as expected, I finally getting a good look at two, the Zapata Sparrow and Blue-headed Quail Dove, that I had missed on the first trip. To see some photos of the birds, click on this link. http://ecotravel.ctaudubon.org/Photos/April202009.htm

I am off to the Galapagos Islands in about nine days for my first time. It is the celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday so that will make it a bit more special.

Thanks for reading. I will post some more photos of Cuba as well as the Galapagos Islands when I get back. There is no Internet access on the trip.

I plan to publish a book of my as well as other travelers' Cuba photos before too long. I will let you know when that is available.

Cheers, AG

Cuban Tody

Successful Eagle Season

Without the Eagle Festival this year, EcoTravel had its best eagle season benefiting from the many people who might have gone to the festival looking for boats. The ice coverage for about 10 days was ideal, concentrating about 35 eagles in the stretch of river from Essex to Hamburg Cove. Once the ice left town, the eagles spread out and were not so numerous. The lower numbers did not reduce the quality of the sightings offering many close encounters and superb photo opportunities.

We are now in our Osprey season and trust that you will be able to join us on one of those boats or some of our other great bird and natural history tours.

Photos are of first year, second year, and adult bald eagles.

In Search of Rarities

Wow...the last few weeks has been a bonanza of great birds not too far from home. Some brave souls and good friends and I have made runs to see the great offerings in New Hampshire and Massachusetts of late. A Northern Hawk Owl had been consistently seen in mid-NH so we headed out for what ended up being a 600 mile day. The owl was right where we had hoped and gave us fine opportunity for good photos.

After spending some time with the magnificent owl, we headed off to surrounding towns in search of fruit trees that might be host to another northern visitor, the Bohemian Waxwing. With some adept spotting from the back seat, we located a flock of about 30 of the buff beauties.

We then made a dash to Gloucester in search of one of two Ivory Gulls in Massachusetts, but had little time and struck out in the dwindling light.

The following week, our Sachuest Point trip took a detour to Plymouth for the second Ivory Gull, and were lucky enough to find the bird waiting for us when we pulled into the parking lot, on the pier, in the middle of town. This bird is outstanding! A delicate, white whisp, traveling the seas in search of whale carcasses. How cool is that!

Published Book

I recently finished creating a photo and narrative book for Connecticut Audubon's trip to Churchill for the annual Polar Bear migration. If you would like to preview it and perhaps even purchase a copy, click on this link. I trust that you will enjoy it!

Link to Polar Bear Book: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/548793

Another Great Arkansas Adventure

Little known Arkansas really is an untapped birding location in the winter with its great sparrow collection, thousands of geese and ducks, and impressive tracts of bottomland woods. The area where we spent much of our time was an 1,800-acre tract along the White River, best known for its recent Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings. The impressive trees are enough to keep one entertained in addition to the four-wheeling mud holes, outstanding number of woodpeckers (mostly Pileated and Red-bellied ...eight species total), and warm, friendly, and welcoming people.

This location is not on many peoples' top ten list of places to go, but one might want to reconsider. And there is always the chance that you might see...you know...The Bird!