The Galapagos will enchant birdwatchers

It’s been more than a week since I returned from 12 days in Ecuador, and my head is still spinning. Visions of marine iguanas and giant tortoises from the Galapagos Islands and fantastic hummingbirds from the mainland cloud forest linger on the edge of my consciousness.

The seeds for this trip were sown early in 2007. I was discussing my 1995 trip to the Galapagos on my Saturday afternoon radio show in Pittsburgh (www.1360wptt.com). A caller suggested I return with a group of listeners. I asked anyone who would seriously consider a fairly long and expensive trip to e-mail me. Within a week I had a dozen responses, so I called a local travel agency.

After months of planning and immeasurable assistance from Beverly Musilli at Uniglobe Travel in Wheeling, a group of 38 intrepid travelers left Pittsburgh on June 13. We were anxious and perhaps even giddy with excitement.

The Galapagos cruise aboard Celebrity’s Xpedition lasted seven days. Add a day of travel each way and another day touring Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and that part of the trip lasted 10 days. After the cruise, 23 of us spent two extra days birding the cloud forest on the east side of the Andes.

It’s difficult to know where to begin because each day of the trip was a series of highlights, so I’ll start with some background.

We flew from Quito, a bustling modern city of two million people that sits 9,400 feet above sea level, to Baltra Island on Sunday morning. The Galapagos straddle the equator nearly 600 miles west of mainland Ecuador. The archipelago consists of 19 islands larger than one square mile, 47 smaller islets, and 26 emergent rocks. The largest island, Isabella, covers 1,770 square miles and represents more than 70 percent of the archipelago’s land mass. The islands’ highest point reaches 5,600 feet on Isabella. The human population of the five inhabited islands is approaching 30,000.

Upon arriving at the airport on Baltra, we took a five-minute bus ride to a small dock where the Xpedition’s fleet of Zodiacs whisked us to the ship.

At the dock we got our first glimpse of wildlife watching, Galapagos style. Sea lions snoozed on the benches, marine iguanas basked on the walkway, and magnificent frigatebirds soared overhead. No one could argue that these are, indeed, the “enchanted islands.”

Within an hour of boarding the Xpedition, we ate lunch and prepared for our first excursion — a visit to North Seymour Island, an absolute wonderland for nesting sea birds. A swallow-tailed gull, a Galapagos endemic (that is, found only on these islands, and the only nocturnal gull in the world), nested next to the trail as we scrambled up the rocks from the Zodiac.

The surf pounded the rugged black volcanic rocks on one side of the boulder-strewn trail; birds nested on the other. Some nests were just arm’s length away.

Both magnificent and great frigatebirds nested on North Seymour. While almost impossible to distinguish in flight, the subtle difference in plumage between these two species was evident at close range. The iridescent sheen on the head and shoulders of the magnificent is purple, while that of the great is green.

Displaying male frigates are impossible to miss. They inflate their bright red throat sac like a big balloon and flaunt it while perched and in flight. On the wing, frigates are large graceful birds with deeply forked tails. Their grace, however, belies their disposition. Frigates are pirates; they steal food from other birds, rob nests, and even eat baby sea turtles.

Blue-footed boobies also nested along the trail. Their blue feet almost glow and serve as an important visual cue during courtship dances. Binoculars are necessary only to study anatomical detail.

Between the trail and the ocean, sea lions rested and brilliant red-orange Sally lightfoot crabs scurried about on the volcanic shoreline. And just off shore, red-billed tropic birds, brown pelicans, and brown noddies sailed back and forth.

Our trip had just begun, and yet we all sensed that we were in for a truly magical week. Next time: the adventure continues.

XSend questions and comments to Dr. Scott Shalaway, RD 5, Cameron, W.Va. 26033 or via e-mail at http://scottshalaway.googlepages.com