It is a bit amazing that these animals, that are stuck on the ground with their heavy shell and cumbersome feet, can find enough to thrive without the help of humans. Yes, there are many place with lush forest cover, but there are also places like this, where the ground is simply broken lava.
Something not often noticed about these slow moving giants is that they have some significant toe nails. I presume this is to help in foraging for food.
A last look at a couple penguins before heading back to shore. Our next outing on Isabela Island was to a tortoise farm.
This green turtle seems to be having a nice, relaxing swim in the warm water of this small protected inlet.
These two penguins are sunning themselves and getting warm. You will notice that they both seem to have large sections of their white chest plumage appearing as a light yellow.
Just south of Isabela Island is a collection of rocky, mostly barren, lava outcroppings called Los Tintoreras. Here we find blue-footed boobies and Galapagos penguins.
The blue feet really stand out against the dark lava.
When blue-footed boobies take flight after diving for a meal, they use their feet to push against the water to help get the speed to get airborne.
One of the better things to do on the beach is watch the boobies fly along the shallow waters and search for food.
One of the shore birds we find wandering the lava at the beach is the black-bellied plover.
I suppose that you can tell which flamingos are well fed by looking. The pink color comes from the carotenoids in the shrimp they eat. The more shrimp, the darker the color.
I'm quite sure that none of the animals we see are aware of how handsome/surprising they are. But I sure do appreciate the delicate coloration of the back feathers on this bird.
These really are elegant birds. I'm always amazed to see all the things that birds do with their beak. Of course, if you only have a beak, then you learn to do everything with it. But still... it is pretty incredible.
It took a couple hours to get from Santa Cruz island to Isabela island. then we got a car to take us to our hotel. After a bite of supper, we crashed for the night. The next morning we started before breakfast with a walk across the street to a small pond that provided food for several Galapagos Flamingos.
I'm quite certain that should one of these crawl up on my bed, I'd levitate somewhere near the ceiling. Not that they are likely to do that since they are plant eaters and not interested in me.
