At least the Black-throated Green Warblers were down at eye-level at Magee Marsh for the Biggest Week in American Birding, in Ohio, on the Erie shore. There were several working along the boardwalk. 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/250th. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic on my iPad Pro. 

Black and White Warbler, Magee Marsh, Oak Harbor, Ohio

Near the end of the day yesterday, after the Optics Alley Tent had closed, we took one final walk around the boardwalk at Magee Marsh to see what what was up…or rather, what was down. I had only gotten eye-level shots of Yellow and Palm warblers so far this trip, and I was hoping for more species. Just as we were on our way back to the car, we came up on this Black and White Warbler working down low, below eye-level in fact, and despite the failing light, could not resist trying to capture it. 

The Black and White, to my eye, is one of the most elegant of the warblers…despite, or perhaps because of, its limited color range.  It seems to day, “let the others have there yellows and oranges and reds…I am content in basic black and white.” (And to say it very well at that.) 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Program Mode. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/250th. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic on my iPad Pro. 

Yellow Warbler, Magee Marsh, Oak Harbor, Ohio

The warblering is picking up at Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding on the Ohio Erie shore…and, of course, there is nothing more visible (and generally more cooperative) than the Yellow Warbler. This fellow put on a show for us right at eye-level on the less crowed East end of the boardwalk.

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Program Mode. 1/800th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic on my iPad Pro. 

Palm Warbler, Magee Marsh, Oak Harbor, Ohio

As I mentioned yesterday in another post, the migration is just getting to Magee Marsh on the Erie Shore in Northern Ohio…late because of the storms that infested the heartland of the US, and, this week, come up into Ohio. There are Palm Warblers however, and this is a better photo than the one I posted yesterday. This is a Palm at its perkiest and most cooperative…feeding at eye-level and only a few feet off the boardwalk at Magee. 

Sony RX10III at 600mm equivalent. Program Mode with continuous focus. 1/320th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Marine Iguana, North Seymour Island, the Galapagos

The classic Marine Iguana on the rocks shot from the Galapagos…in this case North Seymour Island on our Wildside Nature Tours Galapagos Adventure. With the blue Galapagos sea in the background. A nice portrait of an amazing creature. 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Program Mode. 1/1000th @ f5.6 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Mangrove (Yellow) Warbler, the Galapagos, Ecuador

I expect to see hundreds of Yellow Warblers in the next 9 days at Magee Marsh on the Erie Shore in Ohio…they are by far the most common warblers here in the spring…maybe all summer too. These “Yellow” warblers are from the Galapagos, seen on our Wildside Nature Tours Galapagos Adventure last month. In far south Florida they have a Yellow Warbler with a reddish cap and different vocalizaions that is considered a sub-species (so far), called the Mangrove Warbler. Just recently the IOU decided that the Yellow Warblers on the Galapagos are “Mangrove Warblers”…they share the same cap and songs…and designated them a separate species. (Can the Yellows in South Florida be far behind? Only the AOU knows.) So these are Mangrove Warblers. Some males have a much more distinct cap. You have three shots of the same male, and one shot of a female or young male to fill out the panel. 

Sony RX10III at 600mm equivalent. Program Mode. The shots in the deep shade of the brush were at ISO 500, f4, and 1/250th.  Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Sally-lightfoot Crabs, the Galapagos, Ecuador

The only creature that rivals the Sea Lions for being everywhere on the Galapagos is the Sally-lightfoot Crab…and, truth to be told, there are probably way more Crabs than Sea Lions. They just aren’t quite as big or nearly as friendly. The are amazing looking creatures though!

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Program Mode. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic on my iPad Pro. 

Dome-backed Tortoise, Santa Cruz Island, the Galapagos, Ecuador

Kevin Loughlin of Wildside Nature Tours applied for a permit to take our Galapagos Adventure into the highlands of Santa Cruz Island to see the Dome-backed Giant Tortoise, the largest of the giant tortoises of the Galapagos. It was only approved a few days before our departure…in fact, while Kevin and I were traveling between the Wildside Nature Tours Amazon River Boat Adventure and the Galapagos. 

On our last full day in the islands we landed on Santa Cruz and took a bus up past the giant sink-holes and over the top of the mountain to a ranch with a turtle reserve where many of the Dome-backed giants live. It is actually somewhat of a miracle that any giant tortoises remain on the Galapagos, since, for two centuries, pirate, whaling and sealing ships would regularly stop on the islands to hunt tortoises for meat. The tortoises were taken on board by the thousands, and kept alive in the holds of the ships for up to 6 months to a year before being slaughtered. Their eggs were collected just a aggressively. Up to 300,000 turtles may have been taken over the years. 4 species went extinct. 6 remain in much reduced numbers.

Scientists use to think that the Giant Tortoise was an example of island gigantism…an evolutionary process where a smaller species develops to large size in an isolated environment. It is now generally understood that the Giant Tortoise of the Galápagos was already a giant tortoise when it reached the islands up to 200,000,000 years ago. At that time giant tortoises were widespread worldwide. Mainland populations died out over the ages, and while there is little direct evidence, it is hard not to conclude that that these gentle, and all too tasty, giants were hunted to extinction by the newly dominant species of Homo Sapiens. History came close to repeating itself after we discovered the Galapagos. 
Since protection, efforts have been underway to maintain and restore the population of Giant Tortoises on all the islands. Among the 6 remaining species, there are about 20-25,000 individuals right now, living mostly in the highlands of the larger islands. 

So, all in all, I feel very privileged to have seen two of the 6 species while on the islands. The first shot in the panel above intentionally includes the elbow of one of my fellow travelers to give you some idea of the scale. These tortoises are 5 feet long, almost that tall when fully standing, and can weigh 500-600 pounds. They are giant! They browse gently most of the time, but watching them move through brush is like watching a bulldozer. They can live up to 100 years easily, and there are records suggesting that individuals might reach 250 years in ideal environments. When you visit you know you are in the presence of something truly great and truly anchient. 

Sony Rx10iii at various focal lengths. Program Mode. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic on my iPad Pro. 

Blue-footed Booby, North Seymour Island, Galapagos, Ecuador

“Look at my blue feet…how did that happen?” At least that is what this Blue-footed Booby seems to be saying. I thought you might enjoy a close up of the Blue-footed Booby after yesterday’s action panel of the dance. On North Seymour Island where hundreds of pairs nest the Boobies are everywhere…right beside the trail…and even in the trail. It is not really a colony. The Nazca Boobies on Espanola are definitely a colony…the birds nest on a particular section of cliff overlooking the sea. On North Seymour the Blue-footed Boobies are apparently spread randomly over the whole island. It is amazing to walk among them.

Sony Rx10iii at 360mm equivalent. Program Mode.  1/400th @ f8 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Blue-footed Boobies, North Seymour Island, the Galapagos, Ecuador

In addition to the Great and Magnificent Frigatebirds nesting on North Seymour Island in the Galapagos when we visited with the Wildside Nature Tours Galápagos Adventure, there are hundreds of pairs of Blue-footed Boobies. While the Frigatebirds nest in the low shrubs, the Boobies nest on the ground…and while the male Frigatebird’s display is static and decorative, the Blue-footed Boobies stage elaborate courting dances that involve a lot of wing and foot raising and posturing…very courtly. The panel captures one such dance. 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Program Mode. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic on my iPad Pro.