The birds of the Galapagos were the star performers, at least above the waterline. They were very active and fun to watch. That is as opposed to many of the mammals and reptiles.

The first photo is of the signature bird of the Galapagos Islands, the blue footed boobies. I believe that they are the only birds in the world with blue feet. It was really fun to watch them hunt for fish. They would go diving for fish in unison, maybe four to twelve birds together. It was like watching the Blue Angels flying team. Every single movement was in lock step with each other as they flew up and around, hovered and dove for fish, and then came back up. It was very fascinating and fun to watch.

The next photos is two Nazca boobies, formerly called Masked boobies. But since there are both blue and red footed boobies, I don’t know understand why these aren’t called green footed boobies, since they have green feet.

The third photo is of a young Galapagos hawk. I got photos of mature Galapagos hawks, but I wasn’t nearly as close as this photo. Notice the blue beak which the blue and red footed boobies also have blue beaks.

The last photo is of a gull that was also very colorful and active.