Thursday 25th April at 7.00pm we joined the Rockjumper group at The Finlandia Hotel in Quito. Our guides being Dusan and Andres.
Friday 26th after breakfast we set off to Quito airport for our flight to San Cristobal via Guayaquil total journey around 4 hours. While waiting for the bus to take us to the hotel our first Galapagos bird seen was a Mangrove Warbler (split from the American Yellow Warbler)
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| View from the Algarrobos Hotel |
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| Room without a view |
After checking into the Algarrobos Hotel we were taken to a restaurant for luch in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno where we would also eat each evening while on San Christobal.
After lunch the bus took us to El Junco Lagoon - an old volcanic crater with a fresh water spring. Although quite misty we saw Magnificent Frigate Birds coming into drink.
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| The group at El Junco Lagoon |
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| Magnificent Frigate Bird |
On the path to and from the crater we saw our main target bird of the day the San Cristobal Mockingbird.
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| San Cristobal Mockingbird |
Also several more Mangrove warblers were seen and several Grey Warbler Finch and Smooth-billed Annie
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| Mangrove Warbler |
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| Grey Warbler-Finch |
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| Smooth-billed Annie |
Also seen were White-cheeked Pintails, Common Gallinules and a couple of Cattle Egrets.
Late in the afternoon we went to Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado a Giant Tortoise breeding centre where we had our first glimpse of a San Cristobal Giant Tortoise.
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| San Cristobal Giant Tortoise |
Saturday 27th, after an early breakfast we walked to the harbour to get the water taxi out tour catamaran where we would spend the day. Looking into the harbour was our first Laughing Gull, Great Blue Heron a couple of Lava Herons and a noisy and smelly Sea Lion colony.
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| Laughing Gull |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Lava Heron |
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| Lava Heron |
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| Sea Lions |
Aboard the catamaran we spent 4 hours at sea and had our first experience of the sea birds.
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| Elliots Storm Petrel |
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| Elliots Storm Petrel |
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| Galapagos Shearwater |
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| Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel |
In addition several Galapagos Petrels were seen and our first waved Albatross of the day.
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| .Waved Albatross |
We were fortunate have a group of 5 Bottle-nose Dolphins bow riding for a while.
Arriving at Gardner Islet we had a snorkel seeing Turtles, Sea Lions and several species of fish, then lunch on board before transferring to a dinghy and landing at Punta Suarez Espanola. Stepping over Marine Iguanas we made our way around the coast to The Blow Hole passing our first Espanola Mockingbird.
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| Espanola Mockingbird |
A target for today was also the Espanola Cactus Finch which gave great views.
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| Espanola Cactus Finch |
Galapagos Doves were numerous and busy chasing each other and displaying.
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| Galapagos Dove |
Christine spotted our first Galapagos Hawk of the trip, soon joined by another Espanola Mockingbird
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| Galapagos Hawk |
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| Galapagos Hawk with Espanola Mockingbird |
Other birds seen were more Magnificent Frigatebirds, Red-billed tropicbirds, Nazca Boobies, and Swallow-tailed Gulls.
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| Magnificent Frigatebird |
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| Nazca Booby |
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| Juvenile Nazca Booby |
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| Punta Suarez |
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| Red-billed Tropicbird |
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| Swallow-tailed Gull |
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| Swallow-tailed Gull |
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| Swallow-tailed Gull |
Undoubtedly the highlight of today and in fact the whole trip was to experience the Waved Albatross colony where one had such close up views when binoculars couldn't focus!
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| Waved Albatross |
In addition to the birds several Lava Lizards were seen and many Espanola Marine Iguanas
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| Lava Lizard |
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| Espanola Marine Iguana |
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| Marine Iguana |
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| Sally Lightfoot Crab |
A single juvenile American Flamingo was looking sad and lost
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American Flamingo.
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Sunday 28th April, an early start again as we set off again on the catamaran to the eastern tip of San Cristobal named Punta Pitt, Seeing both Laughing and Franklins Gulls in the harbour
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| Our Catamaran |
On the journey to Punta Pitt sea birds were much fewer than yesterday but we did see Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, Elliot's and Wedge-rumped Storm Petrels plus Galapagos Shearwaters and a couple of Galapagos Petrels
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| Magnificent Frigatebird |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Elliot's Storm Petrel |
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| Punta Pitt |
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| Nesting Wedge-rumped Petrels and Swallow-tailed Gulls |
A hike up to Cerro Punta Pitt we were extremely close to both nesting Blue-footed and Red-footed Boobies, Magnificent Frigatebirds and Small Ground Finches.
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| Blue-footed Booby |
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| Blue-footed Boobies |
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| Red-footed Booby Dark phase |
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| Red-footed Booby Dark phase |
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| Red-footed Booby light phase |
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| Nesting Magnificent Frigatebirds |
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| Small Ground Finch |
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| Small Ground Finch |
Returning back to the boat, we then had some excellent snorkelling especially swimming with Sea Lions.
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| Still taken from an underwater video Swimming with a Galapagos Sea Lion |
After a late lunch we headed back, along the volcanic coastline which looked as though the Clangers might live here
April 29th
After breakfast we headed back to the harbour and after having our luggage searched the group boarded a faster boat than what we have previously had. Today we left San Cristobal and headed for Isabella stopping at Floreana for lunch. Our main target for today was critically endangered Floreana Mockingbird that no longer are on Floreana but 2 small colonies survive on satellite rocks of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana. We circumnavigated Champion and saw a pair on top of a cactus, both ringed. Further along another pair appeared.
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| Floreana Mockingbird |
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| Floreana Mockingbird |
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| Brown Noddy |
Arriving at Floreana, we had to step over Marine Iguanas and walk around the colony of Sea Lions, where our hand luggage was then checked again. A walk inland in search of finches was a success seeing Small, and Medium Ground Finches, Common Cactus Finch our main target of Medium Tree, Finch, Small Tree Finch and Galapagos Flycatcher.
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| Galapagos Cactus Finch |
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| Galapagos Flycatcher |
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| Galapagos Flycatcher |
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| Medium Ground Finch |
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| Medium Tree Finch |
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| Medium Tree Finch |
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| Small Tree Finch |
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| Marine Iguana |
After lunch we departed for Isabella, pelagic birding was good with petrels and shearwaters plus a flyby Brown Booby, Swallow tailed gulls Nazca and Blue-footed Boobys a few Great Frigatebirds and Red-billed Tropicbirds. Arriving in the harbour of Puerto Villamil there were more Brown Pelicans and we got our first sighting of Galapagos Penguins.
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Galapagos Penguin |
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| Puerto Villamil |
In the early morning 30th April our tour bus took us up into the highlands to The Sierra Negra Volcano, stopping on the way at a small lake where a vagrant American Coot has been for a while.
Also a Common Gallinule and some White-cheeked Pintail.
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| American Coot |
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| Common Gallinule |
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| White-cheeked Pintail |
Further up the road we got our first sighting of a Vermillion (Darwin's) Flycatcher in bad light so only a poor photo.
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| Vermillion (Darwin's) Flycatcher |
Walking the track to the crater we first looked for Galapagos Crake which responded well to the tape,
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| Galapagos Crake |
Dusan managed to find another Darwin's Flycatcher, this time in better light. Photo courtesy of Dusan
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Vermillion (Darwin's) Flycatcher
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We also saw Small Tree Finch, Green Warbler Finch, Woodpecker Finch, and more Small Ground Finches
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| Small Tree Finch |
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| Small Ground Finch |
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| Woodpecker Finch |
At the crater it was shrouded in low cloud but we were fortunate to see are target bird here the Galapagos Martin x 4
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| Sierra Negra Volcano - crater |
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| Galapagos Martin |
The afternoon we spent time around the beach and some wetlands getting some close up views of Lava Gulls, a Hudsonion Godwit (Galapagos 7th record) Hudsonion Whimbrels and better views of Common Gallinule, American Flamingos and our first and only Green Heron plus a Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper and some Black-winged Stilts.
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| Common Gallinule |
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| Lava Gull |
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| Lava Gull |
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| Hudsonion Godwit |
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| Hudsonion Godwit |
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| Green Heron |
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| American Flamingo |
Wednesday 1st May, another early breakfast, the group was split in two and we boarded two small fast boats. 10 minutes into our journey one broke down so we all squeezed onto one and headed for a remote site on the west coast of Isabella known as Iguana cove where the waters are cooler and the only area for the Flightless Cormorants.
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| Iguana Cove |
Passing close to the volcanic lava shore we saw some Galapagos Fur Seals
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| Galapagos Fur Seal |
and then our first encounter with the endemic Flightless Cormorants.
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| Flightless Cormorants |
Stopping in the cove we had some superb snorkelling, I was lucky enough to have a Flightless Cormorant dive in right in front of me but was too quick for the camera! While having lunch on board we saw more Cormorants and Galapagos Penguins
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| Flightless Cormorant |
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| Galapagos Penguin |
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| Galapagos Penguin |
and many more Marine Iguanas
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| Marine Iguana |
Our journey back to Puerto Villamil was quiet bird wise but we had two encounters of giant Manta rays foraging on the surface.
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| Manta Ray |
Arriving back at the port a walk to the restaurant for dinner passed by some wetland where there were Hudsonion Whimbrel and more American Flamingos
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| Hudsonion Whimbrel |
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| American Flamingo |
Thursday 2nd May, once again back to the port and had our luggage checked and sealed before heading to Santa Cruz - the most populated Island of the Galapagos. In the harbour Colin spotted a Sooty Tern a rarity in this part of the Galapagos.
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| Leaving Isabella |
The journey to Santa Cruz took about 2 hours and there were several rafts of Galapagos Shearwaters.
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| Galapagos Shearewater |
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| Santa Cruz |
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| Puerto Ayora Santa Cruz |
On arrival at our hotel we dumped our luggage and headed off into the highlands
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| Hotel Deja Vu |
At a site called Los Gemelos we searched for more Finches and also the Galapagos Mockingbird, endemic to this Island the Large Tree Finch was a good find as was the 2 Vegetarian Finches, several Woodpecker Finches and a Green Warbler Finch were also seen.
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| Large Tree Finch |
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| Large Tree Finch |
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| Vegetarian Finch |
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| Vegetarian Finch |
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| Medium Ground Finch |
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| Woodpecker Finch |
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| Green Warbler Finch |
Our next stop was at the entrance to the El Chato Tortoise Reserve where an American Barn Owl was roosting in a shed.
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| American Barn Owl |
Further down the entrance track we stopped to allow a young Giant Tortoise cross and were treated to a Dark-billed Cuckoo in the tree above.
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| Dark-billed Cuckoo |
After lunch at the Tortoise reserve we were able to walk with the wild Tortoises, this one being around 140 years old.
From the tortoise reserve we went to an area known as Media Luna in search of Short-eared Owls, a couple of the group managed a couple of glimpses but despite extensive searching they did not put on a show. A Galapagos Crake was heard in the undergrowth but didnt show
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| Over looking Puerto Ayora Santa Cruz |
Friday 3rd May, our last day on the Galapagos gave us a couple of hours to visit the Darwin Research Station only a couple of hundred yards from the hotel. Here we were finally able to get good views of Galapagos Mockingbird and more of the Galapagos Doves and some more Finches. In addition a land Iguana and able to see the Giant Tortoise breeding program.
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| Galapagos Mockingbird |
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| Galapagos Dove |
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| Common Cactus Finch |
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| Large Ground Finch |
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| Small and Large Ground Finch |
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| Land Iguana |
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| One year old Giant Tortoises |
Finally at 10 am. we left for the airport on Isla Baltra and our 2 hour flight to Guayaquil, before a change of aircraft we saw several birds outside the airport. We had our final dinner in a fancy restaurant over looking the city of Quito before being taken to The Hotel Finlandia for our final nights stay. A late breakfast and a rest before being collected to be taken back to Quito airport to start the journey home via Guayaquil airport again then to Amsterdam with a five hour wait for the connection to Heathrow. Thankfully the emergency passport got me to the Galapagos and back home again.
Birds Seen Galapagos Islands
White-cheeked Pintail, Galapagos Penguin, Elliot's Storm Petrel, Waved Albatross, Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel, Band-rumped Storm Petrel, Galapagos Petrel, Galapagos Shearwater, American Flamingo, Red-billed Tropicbird, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Lava Heron, Striated Heron, Green Heron, Western Cattle Egret, Great Blue Heron, Brown Pelican, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great Frigatebird, Blue-footed Booby, Nazca Booby, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Galapagos Hawk, Galapagos Crake, Pait-billed Crake, Common Gallinule' American Oystercatcher, Black-necked Stilt, Semipalmated Plover, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Sooty Tern, Hudsonian Godwit, Red-necked Phalarope, Wandering Tattler, Brown Noddy, Swallow-tailed Gull, Lava Gull, Laughing Gull, Franklins Gull, Galapagos Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Dark-billed Cuckoo, American Barn Owl, Vermillion (Darwin's) Flycatcher, Galapagos Flycatcher, Galapagos Martin, Galapagos Mockingbird, Floreana Mockingbird, Espanola Mockingbird, San Cristobal Mockingbird, Mangrove Warbler, Large Ground Finch, Medium Ground Finch, Small Ground Finch, Espanola Cactus Finch, Common Cactus Finch, Vegetarian Finch, Large Tree Finch, Medium Tree Finch, Small Tree Finch, Woodpecker Finch, Green Warbler Finch, Grey Warbler Finch, American Coot,
Birds seen Guayaquil Airport
Ecuadorian Ground Dove, Grey-breasted Martin, Snowy-throated Kingbird, Tropical Kingbird, Saffron Finch, Great-tailed Grackle, Scrub Blackbird.
