Birding

Galapagos Seabirds – Part Two

June 29, 2025 by Clive Finlayson No Comments

I dedicated my last article to some of the endemic seabirds of the Galapagos Islands. I will endeavour to complete the picture in this second part, including other species that may be wider-ranging but nevertheless of interest.

Blue-footed Booby
Blue-footed Booby

Three species of booby (Sula species) inhabit these islands. Perhaps best known for its antics in the breeding “dance” is the Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii). This species nests throughout the Galapagos and is also found along the Pacific coasts of Mexico, Ecuador and Peru. If the blue feet are striking in this species, the red feet of the Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) are a match. This widespread tropical species breeds on just a few Galapagos islands. For me, the third species – Nazca Booby (Sula granti) – is the most striking. Although it breeds also along the mainland Pacific coasts, almost half of the world population actually breeds on Galapagos. Punta Suarez on Española is a fantastic site for breeding seabirds, not just Nazca Booby, where you can get very close and photograph many with short lenses. Of course, a long telephoto gives you greater reach and is necessary for flight shots.

Nazca Booby
Nazca Booby

Two frigatebirds (Fregata species) nest on Galapagos. Both the Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor) and the Magnificant Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) are widespread tropical species and they are omnipresent on Galapagos waters, always hanging in the air waiting for an opportunity. They can be remarkably fast when they see a chance of a quick meal, either floating on the sea surface or, most often, to be taken from an unsuspecting seabird. If you think skuas (jaegers) are the ultimate kleptoparasites, follow these guys and think again!

Magnificent Frigatebird


Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) are widespread along the coasts of North and South America and the Caribbean. They are ever-present off the Galapagos Islands too. On Galapagos you will find an endemic subspecies – urinator – distinguished from californicus by a blackish gular (not red) and a darker dorsum (and often ventrum, too).

Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican and Blue-footed Booby diving in unison
Swallow-tailed Gull
Swallow-tailed Gull

Two gulls breed on Galapagos. The endemic Lava Gull (Larus fuliginosus), with around 500 individuals, is the rarest gull in the world. They are found throughout the archipelago but in very small numbers. The Swallow-tailed Gull (Creagrus furcatus) is also endemic, although there is also a small breeding population in Colombia. Gulls are a favourite group of mine and I have to say that I found this species ranking among the most beautiful, probably topping the charts. A nocturnal feeder, its large eyes undoubtedly work in favour of this claim for an absolutely stunning bird. Sooty Tern (Sterna fuscata) and Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) complete the seabird picture. Both are widespread tropical species and Sooty only breeds on one island. The Brown Noddy, however, belongs to an endemic subspecies galapagensis.

Brown Noddy
Red-billed Tropicbird
Red-billed Tropicbird

Saving, for me at least, the best for last, I conclude with the ethereal Red-billed Tropicbird (Pheathon aethereus). What a cracking bird! A wide-raging tropical seabird, it breeds on a number of islands within the archipelago. For anyone visiting Galapagos and looking for its seabirds, the endemics are naturally high on the list. Flightless Cormorant and Galapagos Penguin may be the stars but in terms of absolute beauty I stay with Red-billed Tropicbird and Swallow-tailed Gull.

Red-billed tropicbird


Written by Clive Finlayson
Growing up in Gibraltar, it is impossible not to notice large birds of prey, in the thousands, overhead. That, and his father’s influence, got Clive hooked on birds from a very young age. His passion for birds took him eventually to the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at Oxford University where he read for a DPhil, working with swifts and pallid swifts. Publishing papers, articles and books on birds aside, Clive is also a keen bird photographer. He started as a poor student with an old Zenit camera and a 400 mm lens; nowadays he works with a Nikon mirrorless system. Although his back garden is Gibraltar and the Strait of Gibraltar, Clive has an intimate knowledge of Iberian birds but his work also takes him much further afield, from Canada to Japan to Australia. He is Director of the Gibraltar National Museum. Clive's beat is "Avian Survivors", the title of one of his books in which he describes the birds of the Palaearctic as survivors that pulled through a number of ice ages to reach us today.