I love Boobies!

Day 31 - 1 December 2012

Seeing Blue-footed Boobies is one of the bucket-list of things that I want to do in South America. For those who can afford the hefty price tag, the Galapagos is not only the place to see the blue footed boobies, but also to experience the wildlife where animals have little instinctive fear of man. A trip to Galapagos would set one back by at least US$1,000.  Since I have another expensive trip planned in Chile, I have decided to remove Galapagos out of my itinerary. It was only much later that I heard from Paul, a fellow Singaporean who is also doing long term travel in South America, that I should check out Isla de la Plata for these boobies.

Isla de la Plata is a small island that can be reached by boat from Puerto Lopez. I was there during the low season and a trip to the island costs only US$30 inclusive of a return ferry, a guided tour and a light lunch. Since the majority of the animals in Isla can be found in Galapagos, the island is also commonly known as Poor Man's Galapagos due to its much friendlier price tag.

There are three different types of boobies that can be found on Isla - the Blue-footed Booby, the Red-footed Booby and the Nazca Booby. After a 15 mintues' hike, I was really excited when I sighted the Blue-footed Boobies. It was a family of three - the father, the mother and the baby. The Blue-footed Boobies have yellow eyes. The difference between the male and female is that the former is smaller in size than the female, has a smaller pupil with more yellow in their iris than the female and supposedly to have lighter feet as well.

The family

These boobies maintain a monogamous relationship. The mating season is from June to August. Typically, two males would try to compete for the attention of a female by performing a dance. The male would spread his wings, point his head and tail to the sky, and flaunt his blue feet to the female. Apparently, the blueness of the feet plays an important part during the courtship process. The brightness of the feet indicates the fertility condition of the male boobies. As the brightness decreases with age, female boobies tend to go for younger males to ensure that their offspring would inherit good genes. Female boobies usually lay two to three eggs each time. The nests are built on the ground surrounded by a circle of guano (excrement) where the eggs are laid.

Nesting

The circle of guano

Blue-footed Boobies guard their youngs jealously. There were a couple of times during the guided tour where we had to make a slight detour so as not to "trespass" on the nest of these boobies that were built on the trail. When these boobies feel threatened, they can turn into pretty feisty birds! Definitely not a bird to be trifled with!



Boobies along the trail



A provoked Booby

Besides the Blue-footed Boobies, we were also lucky to spot the Nazca Boobies and a sea lion during the guided tour. Though I'm sure Isla would not be able to provide the similar type of experience as one get in Galapagos, for the price I'm paying, I'm definitely happy with what I've seen today!

Nazca Booby

A young Nazca Booby