Galapagos Islands Adventure!

For many years, a trip to the Galapagos Islands has been on my "bucket list". The celebration of my wife Kathy's retirement was just the excuse I needed to plan such an adventure. To make such a trip more interesting for her, we added a bonus extension to Peru and the the ancient Inca Empire city of Machu Picchu. In this travel and natural history blog series, I will first present my thoughts and images of the Galapagos.

Straddling the equator nearly 4000 miles SE of our home in Helena, MT, the Galapagos Archipelago lays about 600+ miles off the west coast of Ecuador. It consists of about 19 islands and many smaller "islets" and rock outcrops of volcanic origin. The two most western islands of the group - Isabela and Fernandina - are among the most active volcanic areas on earth. None of the islands is more than 5 million years old and Fernandina is thought to be only about 100,000 years old. The latter is the largest pristine island in the world, with no human habitation or introduced plant or animal species. Europeans first discovered the islands in 1535 when the Spaniard Fray Tomas de Berlanga and his ship were carried there by ocean currents. His accounts of the islands described the giant tortoises and iguanas and he commented on the tameness of the birds. Pirates were the first to use the islands and were later followed by whalers in the 1790's through the 1800's. In addition to decimating the whale populations, fur seals were hunted almost to extinction and many thousands of tortoises were removed for food. In 1832, the Galapagos were officially annexed by Ecuador , but Settlement did not occur until the late 1800's and into the early 1900's.

As you well know, the most famous visitor to the Galapagos was Charles Darwin, aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835. Although he only spent a total of about 20 days on the islands, observations he made there and elsewhere on his 5-year voyage provided the basis for his classic The Origin of Species published 24 years later. This publication, of course, lead to profound changes in how man perceived processes in nature and evolution. In 1959, the Ecuadorian government declared the Galapagos National Park to protect all parts of the archipelago that were not already occupied or farmed by people.

Our trip to the the Galapagos began with a flight to Baltra Island and then embarkation on the ship National Geographic Islander. This is a 48 passenger ship operated by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. It proved to be an excellent craft for island hopping and was manned by a great crew and naturalists who were exceptionally well versed in the natural history of the islands. Their knowledge of and love for the islands, and concern for island preservation, was obvious from the "get go" and an inspiration to me and the other passengers.

We spent 8 days and 7 nights on the Islander, visiting 8 different islands. Most of the distance travel between islands was done at night, with short trips between landing sites sometimes done during lunch time. Island landings were accomplished using the Zodiacs. These inflatable craft were very versatile and the crew had them in the water usually within five minutes or so after we anchored.

The scenery in the Galapagos was not what I would classify as beautiful or idyllic, but it certainly was interesting. But for me, the mystique of the islands lay in the uniqueness and tameness of the fauna and the distinctiveness of the flora.

In the Galapagos blogs to follow this one, I'll discuss and provide images of the people, vegetation, birds, mammals, and reptiles inhabiting these very interesting and relatively isolated islands - that continue to give us a plethora of scientific knowledge important for the understanding of evolution.

Travel Blogs Coming!

I have been absent from this "blogosphere" for nearly a month making "great personal sacrifices" to gather more photo images and background information to share with you.

My wife and I just returned from a trip to The Galapagos Islands - of Charles Darwin fame - which lay about 625 miles off the coast of Ecuador. These islands support one of the most unique assemblages of flora and fauna on earth. This marine iguana, the only species of its kind in the world, is just one example.Following our stint on this magnificent archipelago, we headed to Peru to visit the home of the ancient Inca Empire with Machu Picchu being the crown jewel.This incredible cultural relic was but a small part of the extensive Inca Empire but it remains a fantastic example of a once advanced civilization. Stay tuned for a series of blogs - after Christmas - on our thoughts and experiences on our visit to these natural and cultural worlds.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

These handsome birds were strutting their stuff in the foothills of the Sapphire Mountains east of Hamilton last spring. I happened upon them while searching for blue(Dusky) grouse in an area where I once worked on a graduate student study. Turkeys were not present in that area back in the late 1960's when I spent lots of time there.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Blue and White!

My calendar says that we are still about a month away from the official beginning of winter here in Helena. But the weather outside says that the calendar may be off by a bit. For the past several days, the thermometer has had much difficulty registering above zero degrees. And yes, we have some of the white stuff. After the fantastic weather we have had for the past two months, mother nature must be doing her compensation thing!

There is a positive side to this picture. For the past several days, we have had a blue jay coming to our feeders. There always seems to be a few of this species around the Helena Valley and during the fall months of many years, a few visit my feeders for a short time and then head off to somewhere else for the winter. With the single blue jay that is here now during this spate of harsh winter weather, perhaps we will have some of its blue gracing our trees and feeders for the remainder of the winter. That would be a welcome sight!Blue jays are quite common in the eastern US and their aggressive, raucous behavior does not engender them to many of the folks back there. For me, their rough equivalent species here in Montana is the magpie. I don't especially like them because of their aggressiveness -sorry about that Mary H. But in my backyard feeders, blue jay are appreciated and a welcome winter guest!!

Serendipity!

On my first "exploration" of the 2-acre wooded property that my daughter and her husband bought in Kent, WA, I noted that the previous owner had erected at least 4 large nest boxes that looked as though they might be suitable for small owls. Ever since then, I have been hoping to find one of the several possible species of owls in this region sitting in one of the large trees or using one of the nest boxes. And on occasion, I have tried various owl recordings to see if I could entice one to respond.

This morning , while all of the adults in the household were sleeping late and I was attending to the oldest granddaughter, I was looking out of the kitchen window to see if the chickadees and/or squirrels were eating sunflower seeds from the feeders that had recently been filled. Shortly after I glanced out, a large bird flew by and landed on a horizontal, moss-covered maple branch. It was a Barred Owl! I ran down the basement to get my telephoto lens for my camera, that I already had in hand. Rather than risk going out on the deck and spooking the owl, I opened the kitchen window, removed the screen, and began taking some pictures. The light was very poor and the camera was telling me that I shouldn't be taking pictures because of the lack of light, but that didn't stop me.

About this this time, the youngest granddaughter - 9 months old - began calling for someone to come and get her out of her crib. Not wanting the others to have to get up quite yet, I went to her room to bring her downstairs with me. But Mom intercepted me so I "reluctantly" handed the baby to her.....and ran down the basement again to get my iPod with bird call recordings. By this time, the owl had left its perch and had flown to another nearby tree. From the back deck, I played a Barred owl call, and almost immediately, the owl flew toward me and then over the house to another perch. I could not locate the bird when I walked around the house so I played the call again. And again, it flew over me to another tree. This happened several times until it landed in a tree near the road where I had some better light - and better luck with the camera. There is something about owls that intrigues me - and many others, so I treasure opportunities to get good images of them. You can't beat a morning shared with young granddaughters and a barred owl!

West Coast maple Syrup?

In April last year, my daughter and family bought a home south of Seattle with about 2 acres of mostly native trees. Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) is well represented amoung the species present and quite a few of them are large, mature trees with diameters in excess of 20 inches, and a few are larger than 30 inches. Below is an image of one of the larger maples, with leaves in golden brown color of fall. A closer look at the leaves shows the typical shape of foliage of members of this family of trees. And older granddaughter Railey holding a single leaf shows quite well how this maple species got its name "Bigleaf". A quick search of the literature of this species indicated that they produce sap that can be boiled down into syrup, although there does not seem to be any commercial use of the trees for this product as there is for Sugar maple in the northeast US. With my penchant for delving into new pastimes, I began to think that maybe it would be interesting to see what maple syrup production involved. The supplies required seem to be readily available from internet sites so that does not seem to be much of an obstacle. But the fact that it takes about 35-40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup leads me to believe that this will not be a simple undertaking. Boiling away that much liquid inside my daughters' home - in a geographic area know for relatively high humidities - might put a strain on our relationship. So if this experiment is to take place, I'm going to have to figure out a way to do the boiling at an outdoor location near the house. The abundant wood on the property should provide a more than adequate fuel supply, but what sort of container for the sap boiling process would work best and how will I support it over a wood fire - without too much of an investment? If I decide to proceed with this effort, will it be cost effective? Certainly not! Will it be fun? Don't know yet. Will I have any help from family? Sure hope so! Will the resulting syrup be edible? Better be!!

Granddaughter Taylin will be one year old this coming February. That should give Kathy and me good reason to head out Seattle way from a likely frozen Montana landscape. Is February an appropriate time to tap maple trees in the Pacific Northwest? That will take a little more research.

Stay tuned for a potential new chapter in my prime years of retirement!

Late Season Dragonflies

The great weather we are having in western Montana has allowed for our continued pursuit of dragon- and damselflies. This past Thursday, my Odonate mentor Nate Kohler and I visited a spring & pond complex west of Drummond that has been an exceptionally good location for a variety of these fascinating insects. On a visit there in late April, Nate found about a half dozen species already hatched, for the earliest dates these species had been found in Montana. On our visit there last Thursday, we captured (and released) 18 species, all of which were late dates for the respective species, the latest they had been found in Montana. If the weather forecast holds firm for this coming week, we should be able to extend those late dates by another week or so. Those are interesting bits of information.

But for me, the best part of last weeks' visit to the area was the capture of two species that I had never netted previously in Montana. The first was a Common Green Darner. This is one of our two migratory species and it first shows up in the state usually in late May. It is a very swift flier and generally stays out a ways from the shoreline while cruising. But because of its size and bright green and blue coloration, it is easy to ID on the wing. I don't know how many times I swung my net at one of these critters last year, but it was likely in the hundreds - all without success. Last week, as I was walking along a dike, a dragonfly flushed from the grass in front of me and I made a successful swing at it with my net. As I was extracting the bug from the net, I immediately knew that I had netted my first Common Green Darner, and I let out a loud "Whoop". Nate looked a bit askance at my overly enthusiastic reaction, but that was OK. It was a pretty good feeling! The other "good bug" for the day for me was a Shadow Darner. I had caught several of these in Washington State last fall, and although I had viewed several that Nate had netted while I was accompanying him, I had never captured one on my own. The one I caught was a female and Nate caught a male shortly thereafter, so I had the opportunity to photograph both sexes. The female I caught is shown belowand the male is here. In the hand, it is fairly easy to tell this species from the other dozen or so Darner species we have in Montana.One of the other neat aspects of October dragonflies is the background colors that natures provides at this time of year. This Blue-eyed Darner compliments quite nicely the Red-osier Dogwood upon which it is perched.And so as not to close without mention and an image of a damselfly, here is a Vivid Dancer that is chowing down on a Caddisfly. Nate found this species in late April this year and it is still present nearly six months later. I'd say that is pretty good for Montana, where temperature extremes are the norm in spring and fall. The spring water with relatively constant temperatures at this location is likely the reason these insects can be found so early and late in the year.

Back to Bugs!

My summer of extensive travel resulted in a major loss of opportunity for pursuing my dragonfly interests. But the great "Indian Summer" of late has provided me with belated catchup opportunities. Last year, a hard early freeze the first few days of October put a quick end to my dragonfly pursuits. Now, the colors of fall provide a great time to be be outside - and nice contrast for dragonfly photography. This Lake Darner shows well on the yellow Chokecherry leaf background.And it is readily apparent how this Mountain Emerald got its name. Paddle-tailed Darners are the most abundant of the larger, fall dragonflies. Blue sky and yellow aspen provide a nice backdrop. This Black-tipped Darner was a first for me and pushed my total Montana dragonfly list to 60 out of a possible 85 or so species. Next year, my goal is to reach 70 species for the state. Variable Darners are another of the more common species and seem to be found most commonly at lower elevations. The red leaves of fall provided a nice contrast for this accommodating Paddle-tailed Darner.
Autumn Meadowhawks were first documented as occurring in Montana last September. This mating pair was photographed last week in the same spring complex where we found only 2 individuals last year.And this individual male was found nearby.Damselflies are more difficult to ID than their dragonfly cousins so I will be concentrating more on them next year. Vivid Dancers like this one are usually found near stream and spring habitats and are a little easier to ID than some other species.One of my favorite species is the Flame Skimmer. They are sometimes quite abundant near springs and frequently perch on vegetation that provides a nice setting. The weather forecast for the next week promises several sunny days in the upper 60's, so there will be a few more opportunities to get out and pursue this new passion of mine. After that, a transition to birding will occur to fill the void until the first Dragons appear again next May!

St. George Shorebirds

During my stay on St. George Island, I found only two species of shorebirds breeding there - Rock Sandpipers and Semi-palmated Plovers. The Rock Sandpipers on the Pribilof Islands are considered a separate sub-species because of their distinctly different plumage patterns. They were quite abundant in the upland areas but seemed to do much of their feeding along the rocky shorelines. Breeding Semi-palmated Plovers were not nearly as abundant and the few juveniles that I found were near shallow lakes.But there were a number of other species that stopped on St. George during their migration south. Red Phalaropes were the most abundant migrants I encountered. Earlier in my stay, the individuals I saw were still mostly in their breeding plumage. Later into August, many of the birds were molting into their winter plumage, which was very similar to that of the juveniles. One day on the north shore of St. George, flocks of this species numbered in the tens of thousands, feeding near the kelp beds off shore. A single Sanderling was noted on Zapadni Beach on a number of occasions. Small groups of Pacific Golden Plovers were first sighted on 7 August, the same date they were seen by a friend the previous year. Western Sandpipers were observed on a number of occasions, mostly by a small wetland along the airport runway. Least Sandpipers were also found in that location plus at a larger shallow lake on the north side of the island. Ruddy Turnstones were the most abundant of the migratory shorebirds and were rather easily found along rocky shorelines and Zapadni Beach. Frequently, a few Wandering Tatlers could be found near the groups of Rock Sandpipers and Turnstones along the shorelines. One of the many reasons I wanted to spend time on St. George Island was the possibility of finding some rare birds, especially shorebirds, that strayed there from Asian populations. While I was not lucky enough to find many of these strays, mainly because of the time frame I was present, that fact certainly did not detract from the great birding and photography opportunities I experienced while there.