Today’s photos are from Matt Young, who often posts both prose and photos at The Panda’s Thumb. Matt’s notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
I was in the Galápagos Islands during the end of December 2005, and the beginning of January 2006, bearing my trusty Canon PowerShot S30, with 3 megapixels and a 3X zoom. I took one or two pictures through an 8X monocular, but other than that I was on my own.
The first thing I saw when I got off the airplane were these flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber):
So let’s look first at some of the birds I managed to photograph. Here, first, a nestling Magnificent Frigatebird, Fregata magnificens,
A juvenile:
And an adult male (the only pictures in this batch taken through the monocular):
Blue-footed booby, Sula nebouxii:
Galápagos penguin, Spheniscus mendiculus:
Reptiles. First, a couple of marine iguanas, Amblyrhynchus cristatus. I think they are males having a disagreement:
Another, more colorful one:
A Floreana Giant Tortoise, Chelonoidis niger. They differ from island to island. This species has a long neck and kind of an open collar so they can reach higher up to forage:
While I was photographing something or other with the S30, someone dashed out of a building, very excited, and asked me for the serial number of the battery in the camera. Evidently his was dead, and he would have to order a new one from Japan. I happen to have had a nearly dead battery for backup, good for 6 shots or so, so I gave it to him. He reappeared, twice, with the following turtle:
And then:
Finally, here is the last reptile I encountered, a Lava Lizard, Microlophus albemarlensis.
Totally cool! I would love to go one day. Was the monocular for a cell phone?
It was very cool, thanks! I just hope that we tourists do not ruin it; it was showing signs even then.
Back in 2006 I had a small cell phone that (I think) preceded the flip phone. It did not have a camera. The monocular was, essentially, an erecting telescope that looked like half a binocular. The mounting to the camera did not exactly give kludge a bad name, but it involved a certain amount of wood and tape, as well as a smidge of epoxy and a bracket that could be screwed to the camera.
Finally, thanks to Jerry for running the pictures! They look a bit better than I had remembered before mining them, especially now that they have been exposed briefly to more modern picture-processing software.
It appears that your experience was similar to mine (and produced similar photos). This post brought back fond memories.
Very exciting with wonderful photos!
Maybe someday I will get to go there….
Thank you! And I hope you will; it was uncommonly interesting.
Lovely photos. Was the baby a sea turtle or one of those giant tortoises? All the reptiles were extra cool. 😎
Yes, I should have said that. The man came out of one of the buildings on the site. I forget, but he was either a scientist or a technician there. The babies are, if you can say that, baby giant tortoises
Beautiful photos, Matt – thanks for sharing them.
My pleasure! I am glad you like them.
Very nice, and a place I’ve contemplated visiting. Perhaps post-COVID peaks.