Part Three: A Dream Comes True. Blue-Footed Boobies!

Blue Footed Boobies are one of the most amazing birds. Their unique blue feet make them seem almost magical. I don't even know how long I've dreamed of seeing a Blue Footed Boobie, but for years I felt I may as well dream of seeing a unicorn - I had just as much chance of seeing them!
But here are my photos, proof I actually saw them!! I loved watching these endearing little birds. Clumsy on land, Boobies are amazing fliers. They soar over the ocean until they find a school of fish. Then they tuck their wings and dive like torpedoes into the ocean. Sometimes entire flocks will dive at the same time!

These little chicks are protected from the wind and cold by the parents big blue feet.
I only caught a glimpse of the babies because the wind came up and the mother boobie quickly tucked them under her feet.
Male Boobies have a unique way of attracting a mate. Almost as if in slow motion, they lift their feet over and over again, whistle, and present little gifts to the female. These gifts are usually little twigs or pebbles, as if the male is showing they can build a nest... Which is crazy because boobies basically find a dip in the rocks and lay their eggs right on the ground. When a male catches the attention of a female, he becomes even more intent on his dance. He whistles, points his tail feathers upwards, and occasionally stretches forth his wings.........

My little 'point n shoot' camera has an HD video component to it. I was able to record the Blue Footed Boobie Mating Dance. I tried to upload my video to my blog but I couldn't make it work - So I unloaded my video to YouTube. I've added a link to my video. I hope you enjoy it! I am so excited that a "Point n Shoot" camera produced such fun home videos! Although you can hear our naturalist talking in the background about the boobies , listen for the sounds of the birds themselves. The male has a whistling sound and the female has a honking sound. Both the male and the female will arch their wings outward, move their feet up and down, and point their tail feathers straight up during the dance. Near the end of the video you can see a little male off camera that had been trying to get the attention of the female. He gradually moved further away, his dance became less enthusiastic, and he started to hang his head. Better luck next time, little guy! So sad!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhOKC6ZDpI

The Galapagos Islands have two other species of boobies: the beautiful black and white Nazca Boobies, formerly called "masked boobies" and the Red Footed boobies. I didn't have a chance to see the red footed boobies but below are a few photos of the incredible Nazca Boobies. They are larger and heavier than blue-footed boobies, and are often seen on cliffs. They use the height of the cliffs to help them take flight.

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In addition to the boobies, we saw a lot of iguanas. There are two main kinds of iguanas on the Galapagos Islands - marine iguanas and land iguanas. The land iguanas are usually golden brown and the marine iguanas are black like the lava rocks they sun themselves on. The marine iguanas vary slightly in color and size from island to island. Some of them have green and red patches on their skin. Due to spending so much time in the water, barnacles attach to their heads, looking almost like armour.

If you look closely, the hill in the back of this next photo is covered with hundreds and hundred marine iguanas. This was a common site throughout the Galapagos. Iguanas were "thick as flies." Double-click on the photo to enlarge it.

The marine iguana below was checking us out as we prepared to hike along the path on one of our excursions. Tourists are not allowed to wander of the paths, so tip-toeing through the hundreds of iguanas was tricky! Our group carefully weaves through the iguanas. Most of them didn't even move as we tip-toed past. It was important to watch where we put our feet on all our hikes, especially this one!. We never knew what would be under our next step!

These land iguanas, pictured below were huge, and thankfully, vegetarians!!

Like so many other animals on the Islands, this little mockingbird was not only unafraid of us, he was curious about the video equipment that our ship's photographer carried with him....
This baby sea lion decided to take a nap right in the middle of the rocky path that led back to our zodiacs. More shots of Sea Lions, turtles, birds and Galapagos scenery to come in Part Four of my journey...........