During our visit to Fernandina Island, the youngest and most pristine island of the Galapagos archipelago, we had a very unusual encounter. While walking on the trails of Punta Espinosa, we saw the elegant heron shown in the picture. It was very friendly and trusting. At one time the bird was just five feet from us.
The great blue heron is the largest of the herons in the American continent -- (length 95 cm (3ft), wingspan 175cm (6ft). It is the largest heron found in Galapagos as well. This bird is one of the resident shore birds of the Galapagos that is sufficiently different from mainland species to have been awarded an endemic subspecies status by taxonomists. Great blue herons breed on all the main islands either in isolated pairs or in small colonies. They prefer mangroves or solitary rocks on which to build their large nests. Great blue herons are voracious predators that feed on a variety of marine organisms, mainly fish caught along the shoreline. Less frequent food sources include lava lizards, young marine iguanas and turtle hatchlings.
The heron pictured today was seen walking over the nesting site of the marine iguanas in Punta Espinosa. It was looking for newly hatched baby marine iguanas. In fact we saw it chasing one baby marine iguana. The tiny iguana ran for its life, as fast as it could, escaping from the heron. Both actors, heron and baby iguana, were performing one of the most wonderful acts in nature: the constant predator-prey battle for life. Congratulations baby iguana, you survived today! Sorry big blue, not this time, maybe next…
