Virtual Galápagos: Wildlife - Coastal Zone

Wildlife - Coastal Zone - Birds

Introduction

Intertidal Life

Sea Turtles

Land Iguanas

Marine Iguanas

Sea Lions

Fur Seals

Birds
Herons
Flamingo
Residents
Migrants

Birds are by nature liminal beings -- that is, they live at the interface, alighting on land only to soar into the skies, diving into the water to fish, passing with grace between the elemental realms. Between the open briny waters of the sea and the hot sparse vegetation of the interior, the coastal zone provides a narrow band of hospitable resources.

Here long-legged herons and pink flamingos breed and feed; here resident species like pintail ducks and oystercatchers make the most of the coastal zone. And some familiar migrant species -- plovers, whimbrels, turnstones and tattlers -- stop by to scout the beaches and shores, perhaps enjoying as much as we do their brief vacation in these remarkable islands.