Birds

• American oystercatcher: the orange bill of this bird is its best tool, used to pry open mollusks. It lies two perfectly camouflaged eggs in the sand.
• Barn owl: a species commonly found all over the world. It feeds nocturnally on small birds, insects, mice and rats.

• Blue-footed booby: this bird has a strange courtship that consists in rising the feet to the partner. They plunge rapidly into the water in order to fish.
• Brown pelican: pelicans catch fish in their large pouch, but are not very good divers. They nest in mangrove trees or small bushes.
• Caracara or curiquingue: a scavenger bird venerated by some indigenous tribes. It lives inside the crevices in cliffs and has a majestic flight.
• Condor: considered the king of the Andes, it is the bird with the largest wingspan of Ecuador, and its patriotic symbol. It is a scavenger but hunted by fearful ignorants.
• -of-the-rock: the fantastic colors of this male bird are meant to attract the opposite sex. They live in all types of climates in Ecuador.
• Darwin’s finches: thirteen endemic species of finches helped illustrate Darwin’s theory of evolution. The woodpecker finch adapted to use a cactus spine as a tool.
• Flamingo: the pink color of this bird comes from eating a shrimp called Artemia, which gets the color from a certain algae. Flamingos build their nests with mud.
• Flightless cormorant: they are the only cormorants in the world with atrophied wings, used to dive instead of to fly. Their courtship can last up to forty days.
• Frigate: a bird that needs to steal fishes from other birds because it does not have waterproof feathers. The male inflates its red throat pouch to attract the female.
• Galapagos dove: a very easy to catch bird, which put it in danger of extinction. They have turquoise eyes and nest on the ground.
• Galapagos flycatcher: an insectivore that lays up to four eggs in a hole inside a tree or a cactus. It has been known to land on people’s heads.
• Galapagos hawk: one of the few birds of prey in the islands. There are about only 130 pairs of them.
• Galapagos penguin: this is the only penguin species found on a tropical climate. These very good divers probably arrived to Galapagos on top of a glacier.
• Great blue heron: a large heron with a long slender neck that feeds on crabs and small lizards. It lays its eggs on a platform of sticks amongst mangroves.
• Hummingbird: the small but colorful hummingbird has a long peak to feed off the nectar of flowers. It flaps its wings faster than any other bird and can hibernate.
• Lava gull: a gull only found in Galapagos, with a population of about 1000 birds. It eats small fish but is mostly a scavenger.
• Lava heron: a small heron that waits patiently for a fish or crab to pass by and then grabs it rapidly. It nests among mangroves or under rocks.
• Macaw: this tropical colorful bird only has one mate in their lifetime. Both parents also take turns hatching the eggs and feeding the newborn.

• Masked booby: the largest of the three boobies, it gets its name from the black color around its eyes. They lay two eggs but only the stronger chick survives.
• Mockingbird: there are four species in Galapagos, differentiated by the color of their plumage and shape of their bill. Being omnivorous they can eat anything.
• Red-billed tropicbird: these birds are identifiable by their long white tail feathers. They nest in small crevices in cliffs.
• Red-footed booby: this booby nests on trees rather than on land like the others. Most adults are brown instead of white in Galapagos, unlike in the rest of the world.
• Short-eared owl: one of the few owls that feeds during the day. It takes care not to hunt at the same time that the Galapagos hawk does.
• Swallow-tailed gull: it is the only gull in the world that feeds at night. The white spot at the end of their bill permits chicks to locate their parents and eat at night.
• Tanagers: small brightly colored bird, mostly tropical and American. It is related to the finches but have larger, thicker bills.
• Toucans: tropical birds famous for the long colorful peaks they have. The peaks are actually very useful to pry open certain fruits.
• Vermilion flycatcher: the male is completely vermilion, while the female is yellow and brown. They make their nest of moss and lichen.
• Waved albatross: the largest bird on the Galapagos, that breed only on Española Island. Their courtship dance is a spectacular thing to see.
• Yellow-crowned night heron: a bird that mostly feeds at night. It hunts crabs and large insects, like the Galapagos giant centipede.
• Yellow warbler: an insectivore that has a pretty song and is found in mangroves. It makes its nest high up in trees or bushes.