The essence of the Galapagos Islands — a Darwin’s finch atop a marine iguana. There are fifteen different species of Darwin’s finches, and they were instrumental in the development of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. This particular bird is called a medium ground finch — not to be confused with the small or the large ground finch. All three ground finches (and for that matter all Darwin’s finches) are roughly the same size. The difference is in the beak — each beak having evolved in a slightly different manner thanks to the different food sources on the different islands. Likewise, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the iguanas are also slightly different depending upon which island they inhabit.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/10 at 1/320th of a second

We came across this American oystercatcher one morning on Fernandina in the Galapagos Islands. Usually oystercatchers will lay two to three eggs, but this mother appeared to only have one. As the name would suggest, they use their large beaks to break open oysters and other mollusks.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/640th of a second

This lava lizard was in the process of shedding its skin, face first. Each island in the Galapagos has a slightly different version of the lava lizard, with slightly different skin colors to match the general environment of the given island.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 400, f/8 at 1/400th of a second

This crimson-rumped toucanet was outside our window while staying in the cloud forest of Ecuador. In fact, this shot was through the glass of our floor to ceiling windows — good thing the lodge keeps them nice and clean.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/400th of a second

I was surprised at how many Pacific green sea turtles we saw in the Galapagos Islands. We snorkeled almost every day and almost every time we got in the water we saw a few of these guys. I got plenty of shots at close range of them staring into the camera, but I really liked this one of the turtle surfacing for air amidst the the diffused rays of the sun.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 22mm) ISO 320, f/5.6 at 1/800th of a second, Ikelite underwater housing with 8-inch dome port

This yellow-crowned night heron was doing its best Navy SEAL impersonation on North Seymour Island in the Galapagos Islands. The heron was slowly stalking its prey in a shallow channel.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second (-0.33 ev)

Butterflies in the genus caligo are commonly called owl butterflies because of the large spots on their wings that resemble the eyes of an owl. I saw quite a few of these butterflies in the cloud forest of Ecuador, but only this one that appeared to have a tear running from the eye.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/400th of a second (-0.33 ev)

A nice moment here between a mother Galapagos sea lion and her young pup. Galapagos sea lions are just slightly smaller than their relatives in California. They occur on each of the islands in the Galapagos archipelago. Every place we saw a bit of sandy beach, we also saw sea lions. When there was no sand, they were basking in the sun on the rocks… or in the middle of a trail, or on a boat, or on the park benches and sidewalks of the few larger islands that were inhabited by people. These two were on our favorite island, Fernandina — a beautiful place, devoid of any people but full of all the creatures that the Galapagos are famous for.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/500th of a second (0.33 ev)

Galápagos penguins are the only penguins that live north of the equator. Not that they cross over into the northern hemisphere by much. The equator goes right through the middle of the archipelago, and it’s only a few of the northern islands that are above it. We didn’t see too many of these guys but we did get a few good looks at them on the rocky shoreline of Isabela Island. We also saw them while snorkeling, but only for an instant as they zipped past.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 400, f/9 at 1/1000th of a second (-0.33 ev)

While I was photographing some birds, I looked over and saw this lava lizard peeking at me from behind a rock. There are many different species of lava lizard on the Galápagos Islands, all however, are believed to have evolved from a single ancestral species. The different species are colored a bit differently depending upon the island that they inhabit — in other words, on islands with more black lava rock, the lizards are darker, whereas on light sandy islands, they are much lighter in color.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/1000th of a second (-0.33 ev)