The Deskbound Birder: San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands (Galapagos and Ecuador)

Saturday, 24 August 2019

San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands (Galapagos and Ecuador) - 24th August (Day 11)

We awoke to rain in the bustling town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno the capital of Galapagos on San Cristobal Island. After breakfast we headed ashore and the group took three pick-ups to Penasco in the highlands of the island where the rain was even heavier. We had two targets here, the first San Cristobal Mockingbird was seen fairly quickly here in the cemetery and we all obtained very good views. The second, Vegetarian Finch eventually gave itself up after a fairly short walk down the road from the cemetery through heavy rain and fairly grim conditions. Here we also saw Grey Warbler-finch, Small Tree-finch, Woodpecker Finch, Small ground-finch and Medium Ground-finch. We returned to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno where we stopped on the port front and had coffees followed by some souvenir shopping before boarding the boat and steaming the three hours north-west to Santa Fe Island.

San Cristobal Mockingbird - San Cristobal Island, Galapagos

Vegetarian Finch - San Cristobal Island, Galapagos

Yellow-crowned Night-heron - San Cristobal Island, Galapagos

After leaving San Cristobal, I sat on the top deck with Andy Deighton seawatching for much of the three hour journey to Sante Fe and recorded numerous White-bellied Storm-petrel, 50+ Wedge-rumped Storm-petrel, one Markham’s Storm-petrel, 30+ Waved Albatross, 25+ Galapagos Petrel and numerous Galapagos Shearwater. There were also two mystery fish fins seen which stood around 45cm above the waters surface which the boat overtook as it was doing 14-knots, after returning home I posted my images on Facebook and the general opinion was that it was a billfish species and either a Blue or Striped Marlin. The highlight came as we neared Santa Fe and I picked up a Humpback Whale and calf not far from the shoreline. Having alerted the others on the boat the captain manoeuvred towards the animals and we all had good views. Reviewing photographs on my return I noticed a number of circular wounds on the animals and realised that these were a really good match for those created by the bizarre Cookiecutter Shark, see here which is known from the Galapagos.

Waved Albatross - Between San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

Galapagos Petrel - Between San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

White-bellied Storm-petrel - Between San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

Wedge-rumped Storm-petrel - Between San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

White-bellied Storm-petrel (rear bird) and Wedge-rumped Storm-petrel - Between

San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

Wedge-rumped Storm-petrel - Between San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

Markham's Storm-petrel - Between San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

Striped or Blue Marlin - Between San Cristobal and Santa Fe Islands, Galapagos

Humpback Whale and calf, note the fresh Cookiecutter Shark bite on the dorsal fin of the

female - Off Santa Fe Island, Galapagos

Humpback Whale note the fresh Cookiecutter Shark bites around the

blow-hole - Off Santa Fe Island, Galapagos

Calf Humpback Whale, the white flukes of the mother can be seen -

Off Santa Fe Island, Galapagos

Humpback Whale - Off Santa Fe Island, Galapagos

After lunch off the coast of Santa Fe with the Humpbacks loafing just off the port side of the Nemo III we asked our guide if we could snorkel with them, he reluctantly agreed as long as we kept our distance to around 100m from the animals and so six of us headed out in the panga and jumped into the sea near to where we had last seen the whales. Almost immediately, below us, a huge whale shape appeared in the gloom, we could make out the very distinctive white fins and the rough shape of the animal before it vanished once again. We snorkeled in the deep water seeing little but then, once again a shape appeared, this time a little closer and more detail of the whale could be discerned and then from the depths the calf appeared heading for the surface, it headed vertically up and took a breath no more than 10m from us before disappearing once more. Below us the female whale was slowly drifting to the surface directly below us and we began to panic a little as its features began to become clear, this was an immense animal and we felt small adrift in the ocean but we should not have feared, it was clear, we were being investigated and the whale and her calf soon swam clear and disappeared from sight. We boarded the panga and returned to Nemo III with our adrenalin levels high feeling privileged to have experienced such a magnificent animal at close range.

We then headed to Santa Fe Island where we were greeted by many Galapagos Sea Lion on the beach, we spent sometime photographing and observing the antics of these animals before a short walk along the east coast of the island. The Humpbacks were still offshore and we watched as both the mother and the calf tail slapped and then the calve repeatedly tail breached – it was quite a spectacular sight. The trail along the rocky coastline produced good views of Galapagos Mockingbird and we encountered two Sante Fe Land Iguana as well as enjoying the spectacular Opuntia echios barringtonensis a very tall Giant Prickly Cactus found only on the island and distinguished by its immense trunk.

We left Santa Fe island and after a short look for the Humpback Whales in the panga, which was largely unsuccessful, we headed back to Nemo III and began our four hour journey to our final island of the tour of Santa Cruz.