Blue Monday

The Galapagos wasn't all sea and sky (though there are a large number of sea and sky pictures coming up). There was also a lot of epic wildlife, including a huge number of blue-footed boobies (not to be confused with the red-footed booby or the... other kind of booby. Cliff dwelling, maybe?) They were very handsome creatures who felt so safe they just nested right on the ground, often right on the trail, and we were forced to edge gently around them, a few feet off the path to stay within the 2 metre rule imposed by the national park.

Such feet! If I recall correctly, it's to do with their diet. We watched them diving into the sea in some places. Apparently they live for quite some time and only die when they become too weak to effectively break the surface of the water, whereupon they starve to death. Nice.

This picture, in that vein, made me sad. Though they often lay more than one egg, most of the time only one baby survives because they can't manage to feed more than that one.

So, in this picture is a fat and healthy chick who is slowly starving the weaker chick to death, next to one that is long gone. Ah, nature.