Moku Noi Island Bird Sanctuary, Oahu

Yesterday, Irene and I embarked on what has been one of my favorite adventures from our trip.  Up until now, our time was spent on the north shore of Oahu, known for it's surfing and laid-back attitude.  Yesterday, we drove to Kailua, located on the southeast coast.  There we decided to rent a double kayak, and  paddle our way to the twin islands of Moku Nui and Moku Iki.

After getting an intense warning from the rental shop about 7' waves, avoiding whitewater, and how to properly get in and out of our boat, we strapped it to the top of our rented jeep and made our way to a small beach for launch.  The paddle out was easier than implied, and the waves nowhere near as bad.  We enjoyed the beautiful turquoise water, watching the islands get closer, and the flyovers of military helicopters from the nearby naval base.

We landed safely on the shore, parked ourselves with all the other boats, and headed off to explore the island.  Although beautiful in their own right, especially surrounded by the gorgeous light green water, my main draw was to visit the bird sanctuary.   Both islands are protected in order to preserve nesting habitat for local seabirds, who are suffering from shrinking habitats, sickness, and dwindling food supply.   Both islands are small, but they provide good habitat for ground nesting birds, since they need light vegetation as protection from the elements and from predators.

As we began walking the narrow, dusty trail, we were surprised to look down and see birds underfoot!  This was one of the first pictures that I took:

Just some flight feathers sticking out of a hole!

These shearwaters just make nests right in the ground, either by digging one out themselves, taking an abandoned hole, or just finding a nice shady bush!  As we walked, we saw more and more!  There were nests everywhere!  It reminded me a lot of my visit to Genovesa Island in the Galapagos where birds just sat there calmly watching the humans go by.  What was different with the shearwaters, though, was they were tucked into holes and under bushes.  It felt a bit like one of those search games from highlights magazine come to life:  "There are 17 birds in this picture.  How many can you find?"  Needless to say, I got really into it, though I didn't keep count.

First I noticed all the birds, and then I saw this:

But again, once I noticed one (just about the size of a chicken egg) I saw them everywhere!  Shearwater eggs under bushes, in holes, in soft piles of grass...  Usually a solo, unattended egg, sometimes two.  My very own Easter egg hunt.  No collecting, of course.

One of my favorite moments in an already amazing day was one I nearly missed.  I had just turned back on the trail, heading back to the boat for our journey to the beach.  I happened to glance over my shoulder to an egg I had photographed only moments earlier.  Now, it's mother has returned.  I watched her as she turned the egg around and over with her beak, carefully situating it before she settled down herself, completely covering the egg with her soft down feathers.  It happened in less than a minute, so I'm lucky to have gotten the few shots that I have.

High from the excitement of photographing nature, I meandered the narrow pathway around the island and made my way back to the landing beach.  Irene was already there waiting for me, snacking on some food we had brought with us lashed to our boat.  We suited up, re-lashed our gear, and launched into the waves.  We were thankful to find that the wind and current were in our favor this time, cutting our return trip time in half from the trip out.  I paddled the whole way back happily, reflecting on what a beautiful day it had been, and how lucky I felt to have stepped into nature's world, even for just a moment.

Genovesa Island, Galapagos

Genovesa Island was where we spent the first full day of our tour, and it also is one of the places that left a strong impression that stayed with me throughout the trip.  Genovesa is known for its population of nesting sea birds, namely red-footed boobies,

Nazca boobies,

swallow tailed gulls,

and frigates.

I visited at the right time, too, because we saw hundreds of young birds nesting.  Most frigates and red-footed boobies made their nests on short bushes, or low level trees,

while Nazca boobies and swallow tailed gulls reared their young on the ground.

With no natural predators, except each other in negotiating for nesting space and food, the birds roam free here. 

The island is uninhabited by people, and so remains in its natural state, free from most invasive species.    For the most part, the birds seem unfazed by our presence.  They note you, watch you a bit, more if they have a young to protect, but generally seem unfearful.  I took that to be a good sign that the National Park's efforts have been well worth it, and visitors to the island have been good about respecting limits.

There is something about these birds, though...  I can't tell if it's just their mannerisms, or in part their appearance, but I just find them somewhat funny!  Especially the Nazca Booby.  They look like they are either a little slow-witted, or extremely wise, and are amused by us!

 

I am sure we must look quite silly to them, traipsing around in large groups, each human striking a strange squatting position as they hold a black box out in front of their face, making strange noises with their mouths.....  It´s hard to know who will look sillier to the other.

On Genovesa, not only are your eyes filled with the colorful and plentiful birds, but boobies are particularly noisy, too, filling the air with a steady chatter.  Most of the time there is a clucking sound with the tone of a duck, but the rapidity of a chicken.  But when a male wants to make a point, either to attract a female or to ward off other males, he lets out a hollow whistling sound as he throws his head back, straightening his neck out upright.  I can only lichen the sound to a blend of a kazoo and the long, ribbed, plastic tube you whirl above your head.  That's probably hard to imagine, so here are some links.  You may have to look around a bit on the page, but each one took me to an active site.

Blue Footed Booby
Nazca Booby (Masked Booby)
Red Footed Booby
Swallow Tailed Gull

While there were lots of frigates, I found them to be a bit quieter, so these four are the more vocal of the birds.  There were hundreds of birds all around, so you will need to imagine all of these different calls, all happening at the same time, all around you in stereo.  Pretty amazing.

Though boobies may look a little silly, they are powerful fishermen!  I have watched cormorants back home as they dive in the water, emerging a few second later to gulp down their catch, but I have never seen the likes of these fishermen.  Unfortunately the video is too high resolution to upload right now, but I watched one blue footed booby dive repeatedly for about 5 minutes.  Just when you thought he was flying away, he would veer back, careening into the water with a solid -thunk- like a small boulder had been dropped in.  He popped up shortly their after with a small flap of his wings, lifting off the surface again, flying to between 15 and 30 feet up, before bombing downwards again. 

I had the pleasure of even watching some of these dives while snorkeling, which is a hoot.  I was swimming along, enthralled by watching some sea lions feeding, when I heard a loud splash 10 feet in front of me.  Looking up, I saw a trail of bubbles that extended about 15 feet into the water, and a booby, swimming his way to the surface.  I have to admit, that at first, it felt like we were under attack by some sort of localized bomb, but once the immediate surprise wore off, it quickly gave way to exhilaration.  I hope to see more of this in the coming days.  I have heard that if you are lucky, you can sometimes find yourself in an area where hundreds of boobies are fishing.  Cross your fingers for me!

But all in all, of my 8 days aboard a boat touring the Galapagos, Genovesa Island is still one of my favorite spots.  I think it is largely due to the proliferation of bird life, there are so many you actually need to watch your step because they won't move for you.  This juvenile red footed booby just stood in the middle of the path, and watch each member of our group as we each took our turn to shimmy past.  He was unimpressed.

 But I think it is also in part because of their personality.  They seem so unfazed...  Like they have a good sense of humor about the whole situation.  Nazca Boobies are definitely on my list of great finds in this trip.

San Cristobal Island, Galapagos

The Galapagos archipelago is made up of 13 major islands, and about 46 other smaller islands and islets.  What makes this place so interesting, is that there are so many species of animal that can only be found here.  Whats more, what drove Darwin to embrace the idea of adaptation and natural selection, is that even the same type of animal has different adaptations depending upon the island upon which it is found. 

Because of this, my next few entries will be about specific islands so that I can clearly represent each area and what makes it special.  This first entry is all about my first location--San Cristobal Island, the attractions there and the creatures I encountered. 

Maleqon
The maleqon is essentially the boardwalk in the capital town of Puerto Baqueriez Moreno.  This is where I took most of my previous photos of the sea lions.  Here you find los lobos very much at home in what humans have created there--lounging on benches, chilling in the playground, and walking down the sidewalk.  It's a great first exposure to San Cristobal.  I have found the afternoons (3-6pm) to be the best time for viewing, since it's not too hot and the sea lions are a bit more active.

Punta Carola
Walking about 20 minutes to the southwest along the coast, you will come to Punta Carola.  This is a small beach, with interesting shell-based sand.  It is another hang-out for los lobos.  My best luck here was early one morning, when I came upon lots of nursing lobos, a marine iguana, and the Great Blue Heron.  I have also seen a number of surfers catching waves here.

Cerro Tijeretas
If you didn't know the hiking trail was there, it would be easy to miss.  Just at the back of Punta Carola beach is a small wooden sign, with a carved hiker and arrow.  Following this trail, you eventually come to a lovely walking path, made from slices of the volcanic rock that comprises the islands.  Following this path for about 20-30 minutes, depending of course on how much you stop to take photos, you come to a number of sites.

The first is a look out onto an inlet clearly frequented by sea birds.  You'll be able to tell by all the white splashes on the rocks in the photos.  I came here twice.  The first time was in the evening, just before sunset.  I was with one of my hosts, and almost missed the blue footed booby perched on the rocks.  It was the keen eyes of my host that caught sight of it and pointed it out to me. 

The second time, I went midday, and it was clearly not the ideal time.  Not a single bird.  The sun is quite hot here, even in the winter, so I would imagine most birds had found some shade by then.

Continuing further on, you will find a lookout with a sculpture dedicated to the work of Charles Darwin.  From this location, you have a fabulous view into the cove below, which is a popular snorkeling spot.  I did not swim here, but from the rocks on the shore I saw a lot of fish, sea lions, and even a sea turtle.

Continuing even further, and hiking up a fair bit, you begin to climb Cerro Las Tijeretas, Frigatebird Hill.  (Tijeretas as they are called here, got their name from the scissor-like action of their tail feathers in flight, named after the spanish word for scissors: tijeras).  The hill got its name from the large number of frigate birds that roost on its cliffs.  As I hiked up last Saturday, it was probably around noon, the sun was strong, and it was hot.  I came upon a small look out, and walked out to find these two tijeretas perched on an overhanging tree. 

This view caught me off guard for a number of reasons.  First of all, I am unused to seeing these birds sitting!  All through Belize, Mexico, and here in the Galapagos, it is commonplace to see these gorgeous birds soaring high and riding updrafts.  To see them sitting, and up close, just seemed so strange.  They are rather clumsy on the ground.

Secondly, they rest in the most uncomfortable-looking position!  They are perched on the branch as any bird would, but they hang their necks over so that their heads hang under their bodies.  It looks very peculiar.  Though I tried my best to be quiet and not disturb them, I inevitably did, and one eventually flew away as I prepared my art materials to draw the pair.  Eventually, after about 45 minutes, the one that remained became comfortable enough with my presence that he went back to sleep, but he remained alert long enough for me to finish a drawing of him.

To the left of the pair was a larger and more distant tree that was home to a large group of resting tijeretas.  I snapped what shots I could before my camera battery ran out, and I was cooked to a crisp.  I packed up my things, and headed back to town.

Laguna El Junco
On Sunday, I had the chance to head to the opposite side of the island, where we explored one of the sights in the highlands.  Here, in the middle of a volcanic crater, now covered with the indigenous ferns, is a freshwater-fed lake.  As my host explained to me, these fresh water lakes are important to the sea birds because they come here to bathe.  The fresh water will rinse out the salt from their feathers.

We spent about half an hour here, and I had the chance to watch the bathing behavior of about 20 frigates.  What fascinates me about these birds is that they never actually swim or float in the water.  Instead, they soar above the lake for a while, in their characteristic circular soaring pattern. 

When there is a pause in the wind, they coast downward, skimming the surface of the water, or occasionally flapping their wings a bit as they dunk their rear into the water.  Once they have done this, they tip their wings upward and lift as quickly as they dove. 

They fly upward, until they reach their comfortable height.  Then I noticed somethign peculiar.  They engage in somewhat of a free fall.  You can tell a bit in this photo how they seem to let their whole body go limp, all the feather ruffling about as a flag in the wind.  I imagine this is their method to cast the water through their feathers and out.

Once they have had this short free fall, they again regain tension in their bodies and return to coasting.  This pattern repeats over and over, for what must be hours.  It was really quite amazing to watch.  BUT very challenging to photograph!  In the 30 minutes we were there, I took over 100 photos, in the end only keeping about 20, since so many were blurry, or empty shots of water.  It was hard to capture.


Galapagera
After the Laguna, my host took us to one the the tortoise sanctuaries in the islands.  Here they have a large enclosure that is safe for the land tortoises to roam free.  Additionally, they have a smaller enclosure where they look after young tortoises.

We had luck when we first walked through the pathways, seeing this smaller-sized tortoise (probably 18" across) after walking for just 10 minutes.  He took note of our presence, but as I'm sure you can imagine with tortoises, there were no major movements.

We continued on through the walkways, seeing no other critters.  It wasn't until we left the official walkway upon leaving the park that we had real luck.  Walking along the outside wall, we came upon a group of 4 enormous tortoises.  3 were 3' across, one of which was at the end of this pool drinking, and the other 2 were fully submerged in the cool, gooey mud at the other edge of the pool.

 It took a while before we noticed the fourth, and by far the largest.  He was farther back, munching on some of the foliage. 

He must have been almost 4' across.  Watching this one, more than any of the others, I was able to imagine what dinosaurs must have been like.  He was just so remarkable.  His movements were so exact, but in such a calculated, unrushed manner.  I noted the intricate scales on his legs, the folds of skin on his neck, and the way he chewed with his mouth open. 

We watched these guys go about their business for almost an hour.  I was filled with the sound of their labored breathing, the sloshing of the mud, and the scraping sound of shell on shell.  I walked away feeling small again, just like that day with the Tiburones Ballenas.

Puerto Chino
We ended our adventurous weekend with a walk down to Puerto Chino, a small, but lovely beach at the northeastern coast of the island.  This small inlet was filled with happy sunbathers, surfers and families.  It was a lovely spot, but my attention was immediately drawn to the rocky overhangs to the side of the beach. 

My eye was first drawn to this pelican. 

Though she is in a resting pose, you can tell by her eyes that she is vigilant.  She never took her eyes off of me.  It took a moment before I saw why.

It turned out that this overhang was a nesting spot for about 4 pairs of pelicans.  Altogether, I saw about 5 young, varying in ages from a few days to a couple weeks, according to my host.   In the hour that I observed (and shot about 200 photos), I saw the parents come and go, bringing food for their young.  I watched as the young mimicked their parents, preening, and flapping, preparing their muscles for adulthood.   It was quite remarkable. 

Even though these little guys are really awkward looking, their really quite special.

According to my host, there are still 3 major sites on San Cristobal that I need to visit before I leave the archipelago.  Puerto Choa is apparently a lovely beach where you can catch some sun right along with sea lions, La Loberia is a site replete with lobos and iguanas, and Kicker Rock, or as it is known here: Leon Dormido (Sleeping Lion) is known for diving and common appearances of sharks.

I should have enough time after my tour to return and finish off what I missed, so if time and money are on my side, there will be a San Cristobal #2 forthcoming!  If not, I feel pleased with all that I had the chance to see in just one week.

(Just one last little caveat.  This post took 4 days, and about 10 hours.  The internet here is tough for uploading, so images take forever.  I will probably either not post for a while, or post only short posts for the time being.  This was a tough one.)