March 29, 1998In general, it is not nearly as rainy as I had expected. In one week I was rained on once at Tagus Cove and light sprinkles a couple of other times. It is still quite hot and the water is very warm. The surface temperatures averaged between 85 and 87 degrees F. all over the archipelago (including the west). The thermocline is still quite depressed but with some areas having cooler water at snorkeling depths. The snorkeling is generally great island-wide with "tropical fish" doing well and phenominal water temperatures and great clarity.
The skies are generally clear and the sun quite intense with cumulonimbus clouds building up near islands causing localized rainfall. The open sea is perhaps a bit rougher than normal for this time of year but quite within normal limits. There is a long high amplitude swell from the north that has a tendency to build up on exposed beaches into higher than normal surf. All of the islands are covered with large amounts of vegetation.
Specific observations follow:
March 22Tower - Darwin Bay
Anis were seen at both visitor sites. I heard constant calling and saw at least 6 individuals. Maybe about half the normal number of displaying frigates but a big change from a few weeks ago! This is basically the first displaying that I have seen here recently - very encouraging. No red footed booby nesting apparent but red foots are flying and roosting.
Tower - Prince Philip Steps
No storm petrels are nesting but one short eared owl was seen at the storm petrel nesting area.
March 23Fernandina - Punta Espinoza
Flightless Cormorants roosting but no nesting at the visitor site. There are several active nests with chicks though appx one mile south. Individual penguins can been found on the rocks along with several small flocks of 12 individuals in the water. The marine iguanas are fairing poorly with reduced numbers and the remaining individuals quite skinny.
Isabela - Tagus Cove
There is a definite trend for sudden downpours at Tagus Cove in the late afternoon. Small groups of feeding penguins were seen in the cove.
Mar 24
Santiago - Puerto Egas
Some fur seals were in the grottos along with one penguin! Some iguanas were seen but perhaps not the normal number. They seemed to be doing OK.
Bartolomé
Individual penguins were seen spread about. They appear to be healthy.
Mar 25North Seymour
Quite a few great frigates were displaying with only a few magnificent frigates. One Galapagos hawk was seen flying over the frigate colony! There are very few sea lions and not the normal number of marine iguanas. Very few swallow tailed gulls are about and none nesting
South Plaza
Most sea lion pups are malnourished. Several females appear to be preventing their pups from feeding. The general population seems to very low. We visited in the afternoon and normally the females would be coming back from feeding themselves and feeding the pups. There was almost none of this activity. The bulls in the bachelor colony (also very low numbers) seemed to have a weird splotchy quality to their coats.
The land iguanas are still very spread over the island. Only a couple of very skinny young marine iguanas were seen.
Mar 26Floreana - Punta Cormorant
15 Flamingos were in the lagoon. The numbers have been dropping over the past couple of months. The lagoon itself was at a high level. One live sea turtle was found in the lagoon! A penguin was in Devil's Crown actively feeding on small fish!
Mar 27Española - Punta Suárez
This is the largest change from normal that I have seen on any island. Dense vegetation is all over the visitor site. The "new" part of the visitor trail is almost impassable from the foliage. Essentially all of the sea lions are gone or dead with lots of dead ones on the beaches. A few masked boobies are in the nesting area with no blue foots nesting (all of their traditional sites are completely overgrown too). Flocks of Red Tailed Tropic birds are common. Lots of small ground finches and Hood Island Mockingbirds are about but I saw only one warbler finch. Surprisingly, many of the marine iguanas that seem to be doing OK and many females were digging nests on the trail.
Española - Gardner bay
Lots of sea lions were hauled up on the beach and mainly looking good - only a couple of pups though. There is still high surf with swimming to the beach being the most common way to land!
As always, this report is a general overview and impression. I am also concentrating on the differences from normal (or unexpected normality!) I am not attempting to make a census so if I don't mention an animal, it doesn't mean that it isn't there.