A while ago, reader Karen Bartelt submitted two batches of photos from a trip to the Galápagos, but I lost the captions and descriptions for the second batch (the first group, published in June, is here). Having failed to contact her, I’ll publish them anyway in the hopes that she’ll comment with IDs, or that other readers will also identify the species, which, given where they’re from, should not be hard.
And, as both Darwin and I (I had to link our names) saw firsthand, the animals of the archipelago, which lack many predators, are extraordinarily tame. Here are two birds that undoubtedly just flew down into someone’s hand. ID’s, anyone?
The finch on the black rock looks like the large cactus finch Geospiza conirostris. But, that’s just a guess.
Comparing the two Iguanas, the first looks like I feel before coffee in the morning. The second, yellow, fellow, looks like he’s just swallowed a cactus whole.
large cactus finch is very possible. Also the ones in the hand could be the same, with the lighter being a female and the darker being the male. Scroll down here are assorted pictures of the different finch species for comparison.
The first bird is the red-footed booby, Sula sula.
The iguanas look to be the Galapagos land iquana. They do differ in color from region to region.
Guess my comments got lost. In order, they are: Red-footed boobies (Sula sula websterii), Genovesa Island; small Volcan Alcedo tortoise (Geochelone vandenburgi), near Urbina Bay; medium tree finch (Camarhynchus pauper), Floreana, large cactus ground finch (Geospiza conirostris), Espanola; cactus ground finches (Geospiza scandens) in my husband’s hand at the home of Gil de Roy in Santa Cruz; pale iguana (Conolophus pallidus), Santa Fe, and a “regular” land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus), South Plaza.
Fantastic.
I was going to guess Red-footed booby, knowing only that it looks like a Blue-footed booby but with red legs. Do they come in any other colors?
…and flavours?
sub
I only know of the massive Galapagos tortoises so this diminutive guy is neat.
Is the last iguana’s yellow color linked to mating season? I imagine it is a male…