Isla Genovesa:
A swallow-tailed gull. Probably one of the most beautiful gulls in the world, and one of the most unusual as well. It is the world's only nocturnal gull (hence the large eyes, probably developed for night vision). It doesn't squawk like most gulls, but makes a shrill shrieking sound, which ends with a rapid clicking sound, almost like a dolphin (it's theorized that this is a form of echolocation). Their tail doesn't really fit the "swallow-tailed" definition, but its is end is somewhat concave. Though these gulls feed at night, they are fairly active during the day. We saw only saw one in action after dark, flying alongside our boat like a little ghost, following the bioluminescent glow created by the tiny creatures stirred up by the prow.

And, for no apparent reason, this swallow-tailed gull decided to do this...

Nazca booby. The booby formerly known as a subspecies of the masked booby, now recognized as a species endemic to Galapagos and Ecuador. It's named after the Nazca tectonic plate that the islands are on.

A Nazca booby and its pet dirt magnet, more commonly known as its chick.

A swallow-tailed gull, showing off its colorful tongue. Piracy from frigatebirds is theorized to be the reason why swallow-tailed gulls are nocturnal: with all the thievery from the frigates during the daytime, the only time the gulls could feed themselves and their young without this threat was at night.

This was an odd sight: the male great frigatebird had spread his wings and stayed in that position, and the female had fallen asleep in his embrace. It was almost like a show of affection, and the fact that they started mating exhuberantly shortly afterwards supports that hypothesis.

Galapagos mockingbird. Not much color, but lots of personality and singing ability. Most of the Galapagos mockers we saw were busy strutting around and turning over pebbles, trying to find something to eat.

It's not dead, it's resting. I'm serious. I thought this booby was dead at first, but according to our guide, it was lying this way in an attempt to lower its body temperature.

Red footed-booby, white phase (the previous photo is of a young red-footed). Unike the Nazcas and blue-footeds, the red-footed boobies (or "roobies") build their nests out of branches in mangroves, instead of the other two species, who nest in bare scrapes on the ground. Unfortunately, frigatebirds also build stick nests, and they often steal nesting material from red-footeds (I saw one do just that). About 95% of all red-footed boobies are brown, but we got to see the remaining 5%, which are white.

Red-footed booby, brown phase. Red-footed boobies don't rely soley on the color of their feet to win a mate. They tend to prefer mates that are well-groomed. Consequently, red-footed boobies are constantly preening, and it was difficult to get a shot any better than this.

A Nazca booby pair on their "nest." Though Nazca and blue-footed boobies don't build nests, they exchange twigs and arrange them around the nest as part of their courtship ritual. This is theorized to be an evolutionary remnant of a time when their ancestors still built proper nests.

A pair of swallow-tailed gulls, preening.

A fully inflated great frigatebird.

A baby red-footed booby. We had to walk along this narrow trail bordered by mangroves and booby nests, and every few feet, a creepy creature like this would be staring at you.

A frigatebird colony, also known as a "tomato field". Whenever unattached males would see a female fly overhead, they feverishly shake their wings and pouches and make this weird wobbly cooing sound in the hopes of attracting her.

Red-footed boobies, with one doing a little skypointing.

A yellow-crowned night heron. This is NOT a Galapagos endemic, they're found in North and South America, but they came here of their own accord, what can I say?

Another "hung over" booby.

A well-camouflaged striated heron. One of Galapagos's two native herons, the lava and striated, which look so much alike that there's debates about whether the lava heron is merely a subspecies of the striated heron.

A young yellow-crowned night heron.

Galapagos fur seal: Technically, these are NOT fur seals, but fur sea LIONS. We only saw them once. Unlike Galapagos sea lions, they prefer isolated, rocky shores, and they have shorter snouts than the sea lions.

A lovely red-footed booby.

The endemic Galapagos dove. Its colors are a bit washed-out here; it has a beautiful light blue ring around its eye and bright pink legs.

A young Nazca booby, making sure we follow the trail markers.

I'm almost positive this photo is going to wind up posted all over the Internet, with a "witty" caption or word bubble added.

Let's have some fun with this one. Can you find the short-eared owl hiding in this picture? (This was in a storm-petrel colony. Little black storm-petrels were flying all over these lava fields, and lurking out there, waiting to pick off young or sick storm-petrels were these owls...this subspecies is endemic, but the species isn't.)

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