June 27, 2021. Today was a busy, busy day. Sadly, it was also the day we had to say goodbye to our wonderful crew of the Nemo III. We departed early on the southeast shore of Santa Cruz for a bus ride to the highlands on the major road that traverses the island. Our first stop was an old quarry where we hoped to pick up one or more of our remaining Darwin finches. After a bit of searching we did score wonderful looks at Vegetarian Finch and our best looks yet at Galapagos Mockingbird.
We continued farther up into the highlands and our next stop at Los Gemelos, The Sinkholes. The collapsed craters were fascinating to walk around, the nearby elfin forest was busy with lots of birds, and by far our best looks at Woodpecker Finch were had here.
Continuing on we made a quick stop for the endemic subspecies of Barn Owl.
iPhone photo taken in near darkness
Next up was Rancho Primicias Giant Tortoise Reserve. This former farm is now a tourist destination with many free ranging wild tortoises roaming the open grounds. And a short birding walk in the surrounding forest turned up our last remaining Darwin finch - the Large Tree-Finch. This bird gave us quite a show, landing on a branch out in the open and tearing apart a spider egg nest.
In the afternoon we headed into town to check in to our hotel and visit the Charles Darwin Research Center. Here we got to learn about tortoise conservation and breeding, and see Lonesome George, the last of the now extinct Pinta Island Giant Tortoises.
Lonesome George
Year old baby tortoises
This wraps up our visit to the Galapagos. A special thanks to the crew of the Nemo III, and especially our outstanding Park Service guide Jairo Gusqui. What an outstanding trip to the islands!
But wait, there's more! We flew back to the mainland with Alvaro for an extension trip to the east slope. More great birds to be seen!
As always, the photos KILL. The photo of the Female Masked Trogon was so nice to see. Most photographers want photos of flashy males. Great stuff.
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