Get the rats off the island!

On the night before I was heading off Galapagos, I took the thermal camera outside thinking it might be helpful in finding birds roosting. I wish I had good images to share with you, but although I did see roosting birds, I was more intrigued and disturbed by mammals crawling in the trees. These mammals were invasive rats crawling around the very trees within our finches live. I hasten to wonder whether they were targeting birds or their nests.


(Source: http://www.nature.com/news/invasive-species-the-18-km2-rat-trap-1.12992?WT.mc_id=FBK_NatureNews )

Then, I see this post on Nature News about the Galapagos efforts to get the rats off the islands. I suspect this will be an uphill battle of epic proportions. Let's hope they make some progress.

My journey in Galapagos is about to end...

Tomorrow morning I head back to Canada, but with a long face. I can hardly say I am looking forward to getting back to work on the mundane paperwork required for university administration, but such is what awaits me. My annual report is due 3 days ago, but I've not had a chance to tick all the boxes justifying my existence. I wonder if my blog counts? We have had a productive research trip here. It may seem odd that I have rarely blogged about our research, but for good reason I felt it appropriate not to talk about the research here, for fear of pre-judging our data or indeed scooping ourselves! Actually, when we received the National Geographic Society grant last November, it came with rules about not keeping a blog about the research and not having a documentary team filming us without NGS approval. I think I've kept pretty well away from blogging about our research here, at least until we publish it. :) As for the documentary team, well, unless one was hiding in the bushes here... Anyhow, my personal thanks go to the employees of the Charles Darwin Research Station who have helped guide us through the permitting process, the Galapagos National Park officials whose responsibility for conserving the Galapagos islands and their flora and fauna is immense, and to Jaime Chaves who helped to train us in finch identification and led us to our field sites. I look forward to seeing you all again next year! Hasta luego, Galapagos.

He who started it all...

Certainly, Darwin has a heavy presence in the Galapagos. Poor Wallace gets overlooked here more than anywhere. There are Darwin's finches. You can order Darwin's rolls at the sushi restaurant. There is the Charles Darwin Research Station. Little islands are named after the Beagle. You almost get the impression that Darwin spent his entire 5 year voyage in the Galapagos, which is ironic since they probably stopped here to pick up tortoises for meat for their voyage. Anyhow, here is the rather askance looking Charles Darwin in the town of Puerto Ayora. We walk past this statue every day. We have yet to see a portrait of Darwin smiling although apparently one does exist.



It is ironic that we are investigating the adaptive thermal biology of Darwin's finches, when the finches were not actually high on Darwin's radar. The mockingbirds, on the other hand, Darwin did recognize as separate species on different islands. Wish I had my copy of the Origin with me, as I'd be able to read up on it while I am here.

Mosquitoes even prey on the iguanas

On my walk home from dinner last night I stumbled across a marine iguana that had managed to find itself a warm secluded hiding spot. It was quite interesting to find so many mosquitoes targeting it while ignoring me. Neat but sad to think of ectotherm specialist mosquitoes.

Long distance travellers

Just when you think that every animal down here is new to you, you then discover a familiar friend, the Great Blue Heron. So apparently they are pretty widespread, as we have them in Canada. Funny though….this one let me get quite close whereas those I see in Canada are skittish. Funny how fear of humans is learned. I'd be scared of us at the first sight myself.

Are we studying them, or are they studying us?

I always feel like I am being watched here in Galapagos. Not the authorities who seem to keep a tight lid on anything, but the animals. Given that most have no or little fear of humans, they are quite approachable. However, even when you are in the field doing something, you feel like the wildlife is watching you. Chances are, something is sitting in a tree or bush looking down at you with little apparent desire to flee. Case in point, here is a small ground finch that has flown into my room and is perched beside my journal. Maybe he wants to add a note? Perhaps something whispered to him by other scientists?

Some like it hot...

In theory, I could post a complete thermal image library of Galapagos fauna, but I'm saving that for my big 'coffee table thermal image book' that will make me millions. Meanwhile, here are a few crabs basking/avoiding the sun. What I find incredible here is how fast things heat up in the sun. These crabs were moving quite a lot, yet you still see how the little bit of shade offered along a rock wall affords them the ability to alter temperature quickly. You heard it here…anytime someone says that ectotherms/cold blooded animals simply conform to the temperature of their environment you can tell them 'nope'! Bask away crustaceans. Those of you who like to eat crabs are probably salivating right now.

Giant tortoises - cows of the Galapagos

I was invited to accompany the giant tortoise research group to track some of their tortoises in the highlands here on Santa Cruz. We found "Sir David Attenborough", a tortoise named after the inimitable narrator of all life on earth… Anyhow, it's amazing to think that before humans exploited the Galapagos, there were an estimated 300,000 tortoises on the entire island archipeligo. Not often you think of an ectotherm as the predominant grazer in the landscape. Modern day cows (see the background) are common on the inhabited islands as sources of food and milk for people who live here, but on Santa Cruz island, the native tortoise population has rebounded to ~5000 individuals (10 of whom we came across the other day during our hike through the highlands.

Years ago, goats were introduced and became resident and wild and were responsible for outcompeting the tortoises on numerous islands in the Galapagos. The goat eradication program seems to have been a success. So much so that nearly every taxi driver we meet has had a prior job working as a goat eradicator. I presume if it was still lucrative business they would not be driving cabs.

Side experiments on plants?

I've been watching closely a bunch of bananas in our room with the thermal camera, and notice a little bit of heat production:



Heat from the ripening process? This little side project was going well until one of my room mates started to eat my experimental subjects.

Woodpecker finch!

One of the first woodpecker finches we've seen. This juvenile was quite amusing, as it was following it's mother around begging for food and perhaps learning how to search for insects. He didn't do anything impressive with sticks or tools, sadly.

His mother, on the other hand, was quite a busy bird, and at one stage appeared to be using a piece of twine for something (not just nest material gathering) - as she would pull this twine with her bill, then hold it in her claw and further pull on it with her bill. Quite determined. Anyhow, here she is feasting on a caterpillar she just happened upon. Looks like she is only eating the guts: