Click to enlarge.According to my daughter, this pelican - seen here at the waterside fish market - had grabbed a very large chunk of fish away from another pelican. Once he got it into his mouth, it was too large to swallow. He refused to spit it out, lest another pelican take it. You can see the contours of the chunk in his jaw. I don't know what happened to him, but I think he learned the lesson that it doesn't always pay to be greedy!
I had always imagined The Galapagos to be lush and green, but that isn't the case - at least this time of year - which is their winter. The islands are volcanic in origin, and many of them have lava fields devoid of any vegetation. Click on the link for more info and a map.
Looking away to another island.
There is an 'otherworldly' charm to it; sort of like a moonscape with water.
Here is an active volcano (in resting stage).
And lest you think there is no green at all, here's a small patch. I hope the next batch of photos will have more animals for you. I have requested that.
12 comments:
I had always imagined the Galapogos to be all volcanic and bare, and was surprised to find out (from a TV programme) that it had inhabitants, markets and houses!!
And I didn't know it had pelicans, either!
Look forward to more photos!
Now was your daughter shooting the pelican or the Englishman with his inevitable socks and sandals?
Little green, but a strange beauty.
I like the greedy pelican.
When I was in the Navy, we were originally slated to visit the Galapagos Islands but New Zealand fell through so we ended up dropping Galapagos and Sydney and instead going to Perth/Freemantle. The photos are just awesome. Looks like a NG photo shoot. She has definitely got your eye for photo content.
Great pictures. Galapagos has always been in my "after lotto win" bucket list. How wonderfull that she got to go.
Guess the old saying that a pelican's beak holds more than his belly can, is true.
Are you there or living vicariously t through your daughter's eyes? I'm going to scroll down and look for those giant turtles.
Neat pics! I would have thought it would be very green too!
Stephen recently was in the Canary Islands and I thought that would be green and lush but he says it is a desert for the most part. Amazing sights... thank goodness for pictures or we would never get to experience it, would we?
This is how they should teach geography. I would have paid attention! Since I didn't, I've got my world globe spinning as I read your posts. It's so fun to learn from you, the photos and all the comments!
Your description of a moonscape with water is a great one. I don't think it's on my list of places to visit before I die, but if you are interested in different life in strange places I can see it would be No.1 on your list.
Great post! I had never thought of the Galapagos as being particularly green, but not this bare either. It does have an other worldly feel to it. The pelican is hilarious -- guess greed isn't limited to us humans after all!
The pelican was probably just waiting to swallow until it felt a little safer. They can swallow fish and birds that are fairly large. And they do frequently steal fish from one another. Naughty birds, huh?
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