A Story of Galapagos

The blog had a short break due to an excellent trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos. Regular geeky service will resume tomorrow; for today, a story.

The blue-footed booby is a wonderful, awkward bird. Their feet turn blue when they’re ready to mate; and since they live near the equator, that happens to be all the time. The male’s mating dance is just adorable, as they wave their feet to show that theirs are the bluest of them all.

Blue feet

They are sea birds, and excellent diving fishers. Their skull has air sacs to protect them when they crash into the water.

On Wolf Island, among others, there are also frigate birds. Fascinating in their own right, they cannot dive for fish nearly so well. However, they are big and can can bully boobies into dropping their dinner.

Darwin’s famous finches have adapted to all the different environments in the Galapagos, including the arid Wolf Island. To get the necessary moisture, the finches here have taken to sucking blood. Specifically, the blood of boobies.

The only moral here is that if you are a booby, you should stay away from Wolf Island.