This first stop on Genovesa Island was a walk along Darwin's Bay. A beautiful mangrove area with sooo many birds!
We saw this male frigate bird shortly after getting out of the panga and I snapped it to make sure I had at least one photo (we hadn't seen any males with the red pouch inflated yet). Little did I know that we were about to see so many more!
A lava gull pair and a sense of the terrain - very different than the other islands.
And, of course, a roly poly sea lion.
Here's a better photo of the male frigate bird. They inflate this red pouch to attract females during mating season. It can take them up to 20 minutes to inflate the pouch and then it stays inflated for days - we even saw a few flying with pouch inflated.
This gives you an idea of how many birds there were on this island. Clearly a favorite spot!
A yellow crowned night heron perched near a prickly pear cactus.
And the beautiful red-footed booby. The blue-footed get all the press because of their feet color but just look at the gorgeous bill and soft-looking downy feathers on these guys. I so wanted to reach out and feel that head to see if it was as soft as it looked.
The prickly pear are much taller here and of course a lot older too.
A Nasca booby pair discussing their nest.
Tucked up in the mangrove branches was this adorable little chick. We even got to see momma feeding it. They regurgitate food for the little ones.
A view of the bay and our pangas coming back from the ship to collect us.
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