May 27th - Isla Santa Cruz
May 27th - Isla Santa Cruz - Puerto Ayora - Rancho Manzanillo - Charles Darwin Research Station
Another overnight cruise had brought us to our mooring off the busy port of Puerto Ayora. It was a particularly early breakfast this morning as Ernesto had told us at the previous evening's briefing that we needed to get ashore ASAP in order to nab one of the few buses that are available. This we did with great aplomb. Puerto Ayora is the biggest town in the Galapagos, with a population of around 20,000 people. Having caught the bus, which was rather more comfortable than the "Device" at Villamil, we headed off inland on a proper tarmac road [which in fact goes all the way to Baltra and the main airport at the northern end of the island]. We eventually turned off onto a track which led to Rancho Manzanillo where there are many tortoises to be found, plus a good selection of birds. We hoped to have a further chance of finding the elusive Galapagos Rail here, which we had tried for at Sierra Negra on Isabela. As we slowly drove along the bumpy track, a side track appeared on the left, the side of the bus where I was sitting. I glanced along the track and there, scurrying across it was a tiny black Galapagos Rail [some authorities refer to them as Galapagos Crake]. I immediately yelled it out and a couple of people managed to get a glimpse before it disappeared. We wanted to stop the bus to look for a while but unfortunately there was a car immediately behind us and the driver said we should continue. We soon arrived at the Rancho building which had a nice open-sided dining area. From there we took a long slow walk through the lush vegetation of the grounds. Tortoises were soon seen in abundance, and the first birds were somewhat surprisingly a pair of American Purple Gallinules [two star bird!] wandering through the long grass. In addition to these there were many Common Gallinules [i.e. Moorhen] around a sizeable muddy pool in a hollow where some of the tortoises were cooling off. Here we found a superb little Paint-billed Crake, with its red and yellow bill, red eye and pale slaty underparts. It wandered around the edges of the pool, often disappearing, but eventually showed really well walking across in the open on the floating vegetation. In total we did two long walks here with a break in the middle, with many tries for the Galapagos Rail, but without success. We did find some good birds though, with Common Cactus Finch, Large-, Medium-, and Small Ground Finches, and Large-, and Small Tree Finches.
After leaving the rancho we headed for a nearby area where Barn Owl was a regular. Unlike in the UK where they sit in holes in trees or in an old barn, this one lived underground! It was in a kind of cave system down which unfortunately some men were working. They informed us where best to look so Andy took a couple of people down - this involved going down a ladder into a deep-ish pit! They did find the bird but it decided to go deeper in and so became out-of-bounds. At least it was a familiar bird to most of us and not a potential 'lifer'. Another good find at this spot was a Dark-billed Cuckoo which sat in a distant tree for a while, allowing scope views. There was nothing much else on show and it was very hot so we got back on the bus and soon found ourselves at a very nice restaurant located overlooking a wooded valley.
After a superb lunch we headed back to Puerto Ayora and went east out of the town to the Darwin Research Station to have a look round. It was very hot by this time. It was interesting to see what is being done to preserve the unique wildlife of the islands. Here you can see the different carapace shapes of the various species of Giant Tortoise found in the islands, and they have a tortoise breeding programme here, as well as one for Land Iguanas. It is worth mentioning here, the supposed origin of the name Galapagos given to the islands. One story often told is that Galapago is an old Spanish word for 'saddle' and that the first explorer decided on Galapagos due to the saddle-shaped carapace of some of the Giant Tortoises. However it turns out that although 'galapago' is an old Spanish word it does not mean 'saddle'. In fact it means tortoise! Apparently one explorer [Capt David Porter] did write home describing the carapaces of the tortoises on Espanola as “ … elongated, turning up forward, in the manner of a Spanish saddle.” The supposition by some is that maybe a mid 19th century Spanish writer described such a saddle as a 'silla galapago' because, as noted by Capt Porter it was shaped like the turned-up tortoise carapaces. Anyway, this little aside means that what I have been telling all and sundry about the derivation of the name for the Galapagos, was wrong!
Whilst walking to and from and around the Research Centre we did get some good birds, including Vegetarian Finch, the only one we were 'missing' at that stage. We then walked back though the outskirts of the town, some taking a beer on the way, and got in touch with the boat to send the pangas out to pick us up.
Another overnight cruise had brought us to our mooring off the busy port of Puerto Ayora. It was a particularly early breakfast this morning as Ernesto had told us at the previous evening's briefing that we needed to get ashore ASAP in order to nab one of the few buses that are available. This we did with great aplomb. Puerto Ayora is the biggest town in the Galapagos, with a population of around 20,000 people. Having caught the bus, which was rather more comfortable than the "Device" at Villamil, we headed off inland on a proper tarmac road [which in fact goes all the way to Baltra and the main airport at the northern end of the island]. We eventually turned off onto a track which led to Rancho Manzanillo where there are many tortoises to be found, plus a good selection of birds. We hoped to have a further chance of finding the elusive Galapagos Rail here, which we had tried for at Sierra Negra on Isabela. As we slowly drove along the bumpy track, a side track appeared on the left, the side of the bus where I was sitting. I glanced along the track and there, scurrying across it was a tiny black Galapagos Rail [some authorities refer to them as Galapagos Crake]. I immediately yelled it out and a couple of people managed to get a glimpse before it disappeared. We wanted to stop the bus to look for a while but unfortunately there was a car immediately behind us and the driver said we should continue. We soon arrived at the Rancho building which had a nice open-sided dining area. From there we took a long slow walk through the lush vegetation of the grounds. Tortoises were soon seen in abundance, and the first birds were somewhat surprisingly a pair of American Purple Gallinules [two star bird!] wandering through the long grass. In addition to these there were many Common Gallinules [i.e. Moorhen] around a sizeable muddy pool in a hollow where some of the tortoises were cooling off. Here we found a superb little Paint-billed Crake, with its red and yellow bill, red eye and pale slaty underparts. It wandered around the edges of the pool, often disappearing, but eventually showed really well walking across in the open on the floating vegetation. In total we did two long walks here with a break in the middle, with many tries for the Galapagos Rail, but without success. We did find some good birds though, with Common Cactus Finch, Large-, Medium-, and Small Ground Finches, and Large-, and Small Tree Finches.
After leaving the rancho we headed for a nearby area where Barn Owl was a regular. Unlike in the UK where they sit in holes in trees or in an old barn, this one lived underground! It was in a kind of cave system down which unfortunately some men were working. They informed us where best to look so Andy took a couple of people down - this involved going down a ladder into a deep-ish pit! They did find the bird but it decided to go deeper in and so became out-of-bounds. At least it was a familiar bird to most of us and not a potential 'lifer'. Another good find at this spot was a Dark-billed Cuckoo which sat in a distant tree for a while, allowing scope views. There was nothing much else on show and it was very hot so we got back on the bus and soon found ourselves at a very nice restaurant located overlooking a wooded valley.
After a superb lunch we headed back to Puerto Ayora and went east out of the town to the Darwin Research Station to have a look round. It was very hot by this time. It was interesting to see what is being done to preserve the unique wildlife of the islands. Here you can see the different carapace shapes of the various species of Giant Tortoise found in the islands, and they have a tortoise breeding programme here, as well as one for Land Iguanas. It is worth mentioning here, the supposed origin of the name Galapagos given to the islands. One story often told is that Galapago is an old Spanish word for 'saddle' and that the first explorer decided on Galapagos due to the saddle-shaped carapace of some of the Giant Tortoises. However it turns out that although 'galapago' is an old Spanish word it does not mean 'saddle'. In fact it means tortoise! Apparently one explorer [Capt David Porter] did write home describing the carapaces of the tortoises on Espanola as “ … elongated, turning up forward, in the manner of a Spanish saddle.” The supposition by some is that maybe a mid 19th century Spanish writer described such a saddle as a 'silla galapago' because, as noted by Capt Porter it was shaped like the turned-up tortoise carapaces. Anyway, this little aside means that what I have been telling all and sundry about the derivation of the name for the Galapagos, was wrong!
Whilst walking to and from and around the Research Centre we did get some good birds, including Vegetarian Finch, the only one we were 'missing' at that stage. We then walked back though the outskirts of the town, some taking a beer on the way, and got in touch with the boat to send the pangas out to pick us up.