Birds Video
2012-07-14
Puerto Lopez is the launching point for tours to Isla de la Plata or "Island of Silver", which is fairly similar to the Galapagos Islands, but much cheaper to get to. The name of the island humorously comes from sailors mistaking the huge amount of petrified bird poop on the coastal bluffs for silver when they saw the island from a distance. This time of year there are also tons of whales near the island and we were treated to many humpbacks slapping the water with their fins and tails and even a few breaches (jumps). There is an image frozen in my memory of a whale about 40 meters away from the boat breaching, not in the normal windshield wiper style, but in a full back flop. It just seemed to hang in the air for ages before crashing back into the water with a monstrous splash. I'm afraid that getting pictures of whales is hard enough on a violently rocking boat, but with my pocket camera, the lack of decent zoom makes the task nearly impossible.
The island reminded me of Kaikoura, New Zealand with its scraggly coast, tall grasses, and numerous whales and birds, however the birds here were more interesting and completely tame. In one spot, there were hundreds of birds in the air, on the ground, everywhere. I've never seen so many birds in one spot, apart from Hitchcock. I went snorkeling in the reef at the foot of one of the bluffs with colorful fish swimming below me and birds soaring above.