23 June 2008, Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz: A good place to observe wild animals up close and personal is at the “fish market” at Pelican Bay, especially when local fishermen are cutting up their catch of the day. We liked going there to see the antics of the sea lions and other sea birds!

 This fish market attracts both the Galapagos wild animals as well as tourists

 A Brown Pelican atop the motor of a fishing boat

These magnificent Frigatebirds are such skilled fliers. You can be mesmerized just by looking at them flying in the air, trying to steal food from other birds, swooping in and around other birds. Too bad we didn’t get the chance to see their spectacular courtship whereby several males will sit close together in a nest and inflate their scarlet gular pouches to attract the females.

Fisherman selling the fish they catch from sea. The fish that is usually caught is the Wahoo fish. Pelicans, sea lions and the regular Great Blue Heron loiter around here in the hope of getting a bite of the fish remains discarded by the fishermen.

 Brown Pelican perching on a fishing boat

This Lava Gull (Larus fuliginosus) is possibly the rarest or least numerous in the world. Note the white upper and lower eyebrows and red eyelids. Their total population is estimated to be around 400 pairs spread around the islands. They are mainly scavengers, hence it is easy to spot one at the fish market.

 Opportunistic birds flying in

The much-loved Galapagos Sea Lion (Zalophus wollebacki) is the largest animal found on land in the islands. They aren’t afraid of humans at all, and seem to like human company (except for bull sea lions of course!). As can be seen in this one above, some of them have been tagged by the Charles Darwin Research Station for monitoring purposes. They will climb onto the deck to wait for fish remains thrown out by the fishermen at the “market”.

The sea lions also climb onto the fishing boats to see if there’s fish left behind for them to eat

 Bringing the fish back into the water quickly

 Sally Light-Foot Crab

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