Cactus on the Galapagos

Our last Galapagos landing, on the north shore of Santa Cruz. A relatively short round-trip walk, ending with a nice but limited sunset. The best birds were at least three dark-billed cuckoos, none of which unfortunately came close enough for a good blip. There were a few land iguanas, but also nothing special.

But there were lots of Opuntia cactus, a variety of prickly pear--here's one, a close-up at least 15 to twenty feet (5-6 meters) off the ground (elsewhere they reach well over twice that height). The long spines serve to fend off giant tortoises and land iguanas.

(Backblipped--for an overview, see 20 July)