April 21, 2009: We cruised close enough to photograph La Cumbre volcano, which erupted with a fountain of lava creating a red river flowing into the Pacific Ocean, expanding Fernandina (Narborough) Island, in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, South America. (This eruption cycle started April 10, 2009 after 5 years of quiet.) Fernandina Island was named in honor of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, who sponsored the voyage of Columbus.
The Blue-footed Booby is a bird in the Sulidae family which comprises ten species of long-winged seabirds. The name “booby” comes from the Spanish term bobo, which means "stupid" or "fool/clown," which describes its clumsy nature on land. Like other seabirds, they can be very tame. The natural breeding habitat of the Blue-footed Booby is tropical and subtropical islands off the Pacific Ocean.
These Galapagos Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) are at Puerto Egas, on Santiago (or San Salvador; or James Island), in the Galápagos Islands archipelago, a province of Ecuador, South America. The Marine Iguana is the world’s only sea-going lizard and is found only on the Galapagos Islands. They feed almost exclusively on marine algae.
The Booted Racket-tail (or Racquet-tailed Hummingbird; Ocreatus underwoodii) flies in Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve, near Quito, Ecuador, South America.
View Tom’s latest images from Ecuador’s Highlands and the Galapagos Islands from our trip April 8-27, 2009, in three web shows:
1. Beautiful hummingbirds of Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve (78 images), near Quito, Ecuador, South America.
2. Quito; Otavalo; Cotopaxi volcano; Quilotoa crater lake (127 images).
3. Galapagos Islands 2009 (235 images).
Lupine flowers bloom above beautiful Lake Quilotoa, Ecuador, South America. Quilotoa is a scenic water-filled caldera that is the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 250 meter (820 foot) deep crater lake has a greenish color from dissolved minerals. The 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide caldera was formed about 800 years ago by the collapse of a dacite volcano, following a catastrophic eruption which produced pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and spread an airborne deposit of volcanic ash throughout the northern Andes. Fumaroles are found on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank of the volcano. The route to the "summit" (the small town of Quilotoa) is generally traveled by hired truck or bus from the town of Zumbahua 17 km to the South.
The Galápagos giant tortoise (Geochelone elephantopus; or Geochelone nigra) is bred at the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS; operated by the Charles Darwin Foundation) in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, in the Galápagos archipelago, Ecuador, South America. This species is the largest living tortoise, native to seven islands of the Galápagos archipelago. Fully grown adults can weigh over 300 kilograms (661 lb) and measure 1.2 meters (4 feet) long. They are long-lived with a life expectancy in the wild estimated to be 100-150 years. Populations fell dramatically because of hunting and the introduction of predators and grazers by humans since the seventeenth century. Now only ten subspecies of the original twelve exist in the wild. However, conservation efforts since the establishment of the Galápagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation have met with success, and hundreds of captive-bred juveniles have been released back onto their home islands.
Kicker Rock ("Léon Dormido") is an old split lava cone off the northwest coast of Isla San Cristóbal (Chatham Island), which is the easternmost of the Galápagos Islands, governed by Ecuador, in South America.
Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor) on Isla Genovesa (or Tower Island), Ecuador, South America. Frigatebirds, which are in the family Fregatidae, are related to pelicans. In breeding season, the male distends a striking red gular sac. The Great Frigatebird is a lightly built large seabird up to 105 cm long with predominantly black plumage. The female is larger than the adult male and has a white throat and breast and a red eye ring. The male's scapular (shoulder) feathers have a purple-green sheen.