Galapagos Birds.

1-7-12 SHORT HILLS: I have presented the journey, day by day, and won’t dicuss the ghastly trip home with canceled flights by LAN airlines, but we did get home, sort of on schedule, 12-31-11.

Since I have only shown a small fraction of my pix so far, I thought I would do more Galapagos birds. Not the iconic ones, boobies, penguins and frigates, that I have already shown, but some of the other ones that we saw. Many are found only in the Galapagos, some have similar relatives elsewhere. Like most of the Galapagos animals, the birds are much more approachable than they are elsewhere. You get better pix.

I have tried to ID them all, but it’s easy to confuse immature of one species with adults of another, and a lot of adults are similar, plus plumage changes with gender and season. So, I am quite willing to be corrected on IDs. I have noted the island, my species ID, and how unique to the Galapagos they are.


Santa Cruz, Brown Pelican, subspecies widely found.

Santa Cruz, Cactus Ground Finch, found only in Galapagos.

North Seymour, Western Sandpiper, migrant during Northern winter.

Genovesa, Galapagos Mockingbird, found only in Galapagos. [above and below]


Genovesa, Lava Gull, immature, found only in Galapagos.

Genovesa, Galapagos Dove, found only in Galapagos.

Genovesa, immature Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, related subspecies found elsewhere.

Genovesa, Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, related subspecies found elsewhere.

Genovesa, immature Swallow Tail Gull, found only in Galapagos.

Genovesa, immature Lava Heron, found only in Galapagos. [above and below]



Genovesa, Large Ground Finch, found in Galapagos only.