At the end of my trip to Ecuador in January 2023, we visited Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos and took short excursions to other areas nearby, mainly for snorkeling. The natural history and wildlife viewing was as spectacular as one would think but even downtown Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz was fun. The area near the docks was full of sunbathing sea lions. Crabs climbed over the igneous coastal rocks and iguanas lay basking near restaurants.
Then there were the Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), common birds and found along both coasts of North America, northern South America, the Caribbean and the population in the Galapagos. The birds on Santa Cruz are permanent residents but some of their species migrates as far as from Baja California Mexico to British Columbia.
Although pelicans are quite able to catch their own food, I saw them hanging around the docks where fishermen were cleaning their catch as well. The one pictured above was nesting in some mangroves near a public beach.
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