Gene with a statue of Charles Darwin
The Galapagos, an archipelago over a thousand miles from the west coast of Ecuador, is a strange, contradictory place. Extensive lava formations and exotic plants contrast with beautiful, quiet, sandy beaches and harbors full of yachts. Snorkeling and scuba diving attract young adventurers. For others it’s a more mythic place – with huge land-tortoises, creepy black iguanas, misplaced penguins, stinky seals, porpoises, and schools of rays. Limited numbers of unique birds are a bonus.
Two “celebrities” dominate Galapagos publicity: Charlie Darwin and Lonesome George.
Lonesome George is a huge Galapagos Tortoise who is suspected to be the last surviving member of his subspecies and “the world’s rarest creature”. But he was in a dark corner of his zoo enclosure, as uninterested in me as he is, evidently, in sex. His near relatives crawl freely if slowly in meadows and cow pastures. They also engage in extremely slow-motion tortoise sex, complete with guttural wheezes and moans.
Large Tree-Finch © Renato Espinosa
Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835; there’s a large statue of him, splattered with guano from boobies and frigate birds, near where he first set foot. From his observations of four different kinds of mockingbirds on separate islands, he is said to have first devised his theory of evolution. All four mockers originated from an Ur-mockingbird couple and evolved differently.
More interesting are the 13 (or 14, depending on how you split them) finches that are now the islands’ main birding attractions. These “Darwin’s finches” also evolved, i.e., changed their shapes and behavior as necessity dictated. Ground Finches, Tree Finches, Warbler Finches, Cactus Finches, and Woodpecker Finches: they’re all just slightly different. Even though they’re as tame as chickens, coming fearlessly with arm’s reach, accurately identifying some of them drove me nuts!
Woodpecker Finch © Renato Espinosa
Fewer than 150 species are on the checklist for Galapagos birds. Of these, only 23 are endemic – birds you can’t see anywhere else. Put “Galapagos” in front of the following species names, and you’ll get some idea of the variety of endemics: Penguin, Dove, Hawk, Flycatcher, Mockingbird, Rail, Martin. All are stuck on the Galapagos and worth stalking and ticking.
But some of the birds you can see elsewhere (Yellow Warbler, Barn Owl and Short-eared Owls, for instance) are slightly different from their continental cousins. They’re stuck here too, and better off because of it. Unable to migrate, Yellow Warblers on Galapagos, for instance, are slightly bigger, more colorful, and more robust in their singing than the ones that expend vast amounts of energy getting to North America.
Barn Owl © Renato Espinosa
Perhaps they’ll continue to evolve. If so, I’ll be able to add Galapagos Yellow Warbler and a dozen or so other species to my life list some day – provided I live to be 10,000 years old. Wait; maybe global warming will make evolution speed up a bit.
