Bird of the Day: Galapagos Hawk (Fernandina Island, Galapagos, Ecuador)
Galapagos Islands
Bird of the Day: Nazca Boobie (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador)
Bird of the Day: Small Ground Finch (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador)
Bird of the Day: Vermilion Flycatcher (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador)
Bird of the Day: Greater Flamingo (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador)
A Closer Look
Yesterday’s link to that last post in Robert Krulwich’s series on camouflage reminded me of the experience I had two weeks ago, while taking a photograph of some sea lions perched on the top of an outcrop of sun-absorbing, smooth black rock. Those seemingly lazy creatures climb up from the waters below to recharge in the sun.
From where I was standing taking this photograph I did not notice anything other than the same kind of rocks in front of me.
Instinctively, I took a photograph of the outcropping in front of me but did not notice anything other than the contrast between the black and white.
I stood in the same spot for some minutes, mainly looking at the sea lions, but eventually looked back down in front of me and snapped another photo. Continue reading
Galapagos Education #2/3
Reyna walked me through the school and explained the transformation it has undergone in the last few years. The transformation began with the realization that children in these islands were in the midst of amazing nature, but that nature was not incorporated into the education they received. Nor was sustainability. Going from school room to school room I could see that this was corrected, and then some. No unnecessary paving, nor walls where they were not needed. Many classrooms are literally open air. Kids do not have to lean out a window to see what is happening in the trees. The science classroom looks familiar, yet better. Continue reading
Iguana Charisma
The lovely finch tells a story, aesthetic and scientific, that most of us accept as the gospel truth, about adaptation and evolution. A good interpretive guide can help the average lay person understand the story. Charles Darwin penciled out some of the first notes that guides use to explain why finches vary in color, beak size, behaviors, etc. and plenty of very smart people have contributed to the evolution of those explanations. So we continue to learn.
A visit to the Galapagos Islands should include attention to the finch, considering the role they played in the ability we now have to understand some of the mysteries of the natural world. Continue reading
From The Galapagos Islands
I am joining Raxa Collective from the Galapagos Islands with the objective of sharing my daily life, project initiatives and global perspectives from this small piece of land that happens to be one of the few places on Earth where sustainable development is still a feasible concept to implement.
But how did I arrive to the Evolution Paradise where Charles Darwin spent important days during his voyage of the Beagle? After getting my B.Sc. in Ecology and Natural Resources Management from Universidad San Francisco de Quito I decided to take a sabbatical year from university studies and became a naturalist guide in the Galapagos. Islanders say that when you drink water from Pelican Bay (a small Bay in Santa Cruz Islands), you will never leave the Islands again. And guess what?….. It happened to me with the exception that I left the Islands for several years before deciding that this is the place where I want to spend the rest of my life. I am lucky enough to be one of the Ecuadorians that have legal permanent residency in the Islands so I was able to act on that decision. But that is a completely different topic that will be the subject of one of my next dispatches. Continue reading
Organikos 