Galapagos Islands - Birds - Ecuador
The Galapagos Islands are home to some of the highest levels of endemism (species found nowhere else on Earth). Of the 56 native (arrived naturally) bird species of Galapagos, 45 (80%) are endemic and 11 are indigenous (native to Galapagos but also found elsewhere). In addition to the native birds, there are 29 migratory species. Of the 29 resident land birds in the Galapagos, 22 are endemic at the level of species. Thirteen of the 22 endemic species are known collectively as Darwin’s finches. There are only six endemic species among the seabirds. All these images are during 17 February days.
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Flightless Cormorant - also called a Galapagos Cormorant - displaying its very small and scruffy looking wing - perched with its webbed feet atop the volcanic rock and sharing the shoreline with a mature Sally Lightfoot Crab, here along the lower southeastern flank of Volcan Ecuador (of which half has sunken into the Pacific) - northern Isla Isabela, the only island in the Galapagos Archipelago where the equator crosses.
