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I never expected to see snakes on the Galapagos Islands. In fact, one book I read before the trip said the islands had a few small snakes but seeing them was extremely rare. As I’ve learned during my travels, I seldom find snakes when looking for them and often find them when I’m not. Consequently, […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4978: The Galapagos Islands reminded me of my visit to Antarctica, because the wildlife of both places have no fear of humans. I was sitting on a beach when this yellow warbler approached within inches of me. (Photographed last month in the Galapagos Islands.)
This photo is only possible in the Galapagos Islands: a brown pelican, next to Galapagos penguins, next to Sally Lightfoot crabs.
Marty’s photo of the day #4977: It’s Monday, and the Middle Eastern religions are fighting each other again. One would think Darwin and critical thinking would have ended this madness. So while the religions do what they’ve done since humans invented them, how about if the rest of us enjoy a little booby? This is […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4976: This was my favorite moment of last month’s Galapagos Islands trip. There are strict rules about not touching wildlife. However, the animals don’t have any rules. I was on my knees, photographing a group of Galapagos sea lions, when this pup grew curious about me and crawled across the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4975: It doesn’t matter whether I see American oystercatchers in the Galapagos Islands or somewhere else, they always catch my attention. They are such beautiful birds. (Photographed earlier this month in the Galapagos Islands.)
Marty’s photo of the day #4974: Despite shooting more than 3,600 photos earlier this month in the Galapagos Islands, I thought I had fucked up and failed to get even one quality photo from multiple encounters with white-tipped reef sharks. Then I discovered I overlooked this one. Which, I must say, isn’t too bad.
Marty’s photo of the day #4973: The Galapagos Islands are home to three species of boobies: the blue-footed booby, the Nazca booby, and the red-footed booby. When Deb and I were there earlier this month, we spent time with the first two boobies. This photo features a Nazca booby.
Marty’s photo of the day #4972: Earlier this month, Deb and I spent the night in a treehouse along the migration route of the Galapagos tortoises (also known as giant tortoises) on Santa Cruz island. Their migration from the humid highlands to the dry lowlands is only about five miles, but that’s quite a feat […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4971: Look closely. The lighter-colored center of this photo is a pacific leopard flounder! At about 15 inches full-grown, these fish can instantly change their color and pattern to match sandy or rocky seafloors and can even become nearly translucent in open water. They start life with eyes on both […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4970: Look closely. It’s a lava heron on lava, and it just caught a fish. (Photographed earlier this month in the Galapagos Islands.)
Marty’s photo of the day #4969: The Galapagos Islands have land iguanas and marine iguanas. Both evolved from a common ancestor some 8 million years ago. This is a land iguana, of which there are 3 distinct species. With a lifespan of up to 60 years, they primarily eat prickly pear cactus pads, flowers, and […]
On one of our days in the Galapagos Islands, Deb and I enjoyed a kayak outing. I didn’t want to bring my good Canon camera or risk losing my favorite underwater camera, so I grabbed my backup underwater camera, so at least I’d have something to shoot. Near the end of our outing, several Galapagos […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4968: While the Galapagos Islands didn’t have the underwater species diversity of other places I’ve snorkeled, it made up for less diversity by producing massive schools of fish. Of my many “wall of fish” experiences there, this one with razor surgeonfish was the most beautiful. (Photographed earlier this month in […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4967: Normally, I wouldn’t go out of my way to photograph finches, but on the Galapagos Islands, Darwin’s finches (more closely related to tanagers than true finches) are special because they helped Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution by natural selection. There are 13 to 18 recognized species (depending […]
I’ve received multiple requests for more Galapagos cute sea lion pup photos. Sure, I can do that! (Photographed earlier this month in the Galapagos Islands.)
Marty’s photo of the day #4966: The Galapagos penguins are squawking that I haven’t featured them for a photo of the day yet. So here we go. These are the rarest penguins in the world (less than 2,000 exist) and the only penguin species that lives in the tropics and north of the equator. To […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4965: I took several photos in the Galapagos Islands that I consider particularly artsy. These swallow-tailed gulls fit into that category. I think this image looks more like a painting than an actual photograph. (Photographed earlier this month in the Galapagos Islands.)
I shot lots of Galapagos sea lion photos earlier this month, so you can expect them to pop up on my posts from time to time. Still, I wish I’d shot more. I mean, is it possible to create too many images of these cuties—especially the young ones?
Marty’s photo of the day #4963: During the past ten years, I’ve snorkeled the Sea of Cortez, Bonaire, Belize, the Raja Ampat of Indonesian New Guinea, and the Galapagos Islands. All had interesting and unique features. Where the Galapagos Islands excelled was in the massive schools of fish that were close enough to touch. These […]
