Today’s image was taken during a visit to the famed Galapagos Islands back in 2017. This was my second visit to this wonderful location but I hope won’t be my last.
With a breeze blowing the bird, a Galapagos Brown Pelican, was hunkered down on the sand with its head turned back and its bill buried in its back feathers. It seems to be that many bird species adopt this posture when at rest, just why isn’t obvious. Is it to conserve body heat, or is it simply comforting?
Galapagos Brown Pelican hunkered down against the wind.
The Galapagos Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis urinator) is an endemic species and common resident of the Galapagos. Its population is estimated at a few thousand pairs that breed throughout the year, nesting in small colonies in low bushes and mangroves, occasionally on the ground, and laying up to two eggs that are incubated by both sexes.
I’ll present some more Galapagos images in the days ahead. They have been sitting idle on my hard drive for too long! ~KD.