Galapagos Hawk

Paul Demkovich

We spent 8 days in the Galápagos Islands traveling to 10 islands, looking for the special birds on each.

On Isla Fernandina, we followed a path across coastal lava flats dotted with clumps of cactus. Along the shore were hundreds of black Marine Iguanas sneezing salt and nearly as many Sally Lightfoot Crabs picking at bits among the rocks.

It was amazing to see a Galapagos Hawk fly past us and perch on a distant tree. After a few moments, the hawk took off again, flew past us to the shoreline, swooped down, grabbed a small Marine Iguana, flew toward our group, and landed on a short snag about 30 feet in front of us – Simply Amazing!