The Simple Beauty of Flight

Here’s a post for the pure and simple aesthetic enjoyment of birds. Summer is our Galapagos season with multiple trips, and guide George Armistead returned with a set of lovely pics of everything from Sally Lightfoot crabs to sea lions to tree finches and Galapagos Rail. We thought it would be fun to focus on just a few of George‘s airborne ones from the tour and the incredible lightness of their beings.

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An Elliot's Storm-Petrel floats above the surface...
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...and magically puts winglift and surface tension to work as it 'walks' on water.

Two caramel-headed juvenile Great Frigatebirds practice their aerobatic skills over Tower Island.
Two caramel-headed juvenile Great Frigatebirds practice aerobatics over Tower Island.
Red-billed Tropicbird over Española
A Red-billed Tropicbird cruises by Española.
Swallow-tailed Gull with a morsel over Española
Swallow-tailed Gull with a morsel over Española
Waved Albatross over the breeding grounds at Española
Waved Albatross passes over the colony at Española.
...and participants Lance and Peter marveling at the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel colony on Tower Island.
And the simple joy of marveling at the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel colony on Tower, far-northeastern outlier of the Galapagos archipelago.