You don’t have to be a twitcher to appreciate and enjoy the incredible diversity of bird life on the Galapagos Islands. Depending on the time of year and the particular island you are visiting, you will have unique opportunities to observe and photograph rare and endemic bird species and can hope to be treated to spectacular displays of courtship, feeding and nesting at very close quarters.
Some of the best known images of the Galapagos are of the enchanting blue-footed boobies (North Seymour, Fernandina, San Cristobal, Santa Fe, Española, Isabela), whose ‘skypointing’ ritual, when the males attract their mates by means of extravagant strutting and wing stretching, is fascinating to watch.
The archipelago is also home to Nazca boobies (Española, San Cristobal, Santa Fe, Fernandina, Isabela), and red-footed boobies (San Cristobal, Genovesa, Wolf). Other birds you will have to step over or who will glide past your head include the waved albatross (Española), brown pelicans, lava herons, Galapagos flamingoes, Darwin’s finches, mockingbirds, the flightless cormorant and the Galapagos dove and hawk.
The sounds of the Galapagos birdlife are no less striking, as the air is filled with the whistling of male boobies, their partners’ honking in response and the resplendent male great frigate drumming on his incredible trademark red pouch.