After a wet week, we had an extraordinary sunny morning. Our early hike this morning took place on Española, at Punta Suarez. As we hiked the trails, our guests were delighted with the animals and the view from the cliffs. It was during this walk we saw two Galapagos hawks.
The Galapagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) is as fearless as the other birds found on the islands. This is a bird of prey and of course is feared by the rest of the animals.
When Darwin visited the islands, he was very much amazed about their behavior and wrote: "A gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk out of a branch of a tree." They do not mind our presence at all!
These birds practice a mating system called cooperative polyandry. This means that the female will have up to four mates, who will all help her construct the nest and the caring of the chicks. These birds have a wide variety of food resources; their prey includes lava lizards, baby marine or land iguanas and even young seabirds.
