Census and Health Analysis of Galapagos Seabirds

The Galapagos Islands are home to many animals that are synonymous with the islands. The most famous are certainly the giant tortoises that gave the archipelago its name. Many bird species are also endemic, meaning that they can only be found on the Galapagos Islands. We are all familiar with various species of finches or mockingbirds, thanks to the many projects we support. 

Seabird species such as the Finless Cormorant (Phalacrocorax harrisi), the Galapagos Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata), or the Galapagos Penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) are also found nowhere else in the world. They are among the most extraordinary birds of the archipelago and are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 

In principle, penguins only live south of the equator, making the Galápagos penguin the most northerly representative of its species. In fact, the penguins that breed on the northern shores of Isabela actually live in the northern hemisphere! Many people love penguins, perhaps because these curious, short-legged birds walk so gracefully on land and have a pleasant appearance. But in the water, they are acrobats at swimming and diving - they fly underwater. Yet most of us know little about the challenges these birds face in their habitat. Fishing, in particular, is a major threat to penguins, who get caught in nets and die horribly.

But the steady rise in sea levels also poses problems for the animals. As the birds nest in caves on the coast, it is becoming increasingly common for nests to be flooded and chicks or eggs washed away by the tides. Efforts have been made to provide alternative nesting sites on higher cliffs, but it remains to be seen if and how long it will take for the birds to accept these options.

Another problem is the climatic phenomenon El Niño, when the cold deep-water currents responsible for the Galapagos Marine Reserve's abundance of fish fail to reach the archipelago's coasts, forcing penguins to abandon their nests or chicks for lack of food. In such years, there are hardly any offspring and the penguins population declines dramatically.

The flightless cormorant, also known as the Galapagos cormorant, which shares its habitat with the Galapagos penguin, is a rather inconspicuous bird. While the wings of penguins have evolved into flippers, allowing them to move quickly and elegantly through the water, the wings of wingless cormorants have simply shortened into short stumps. In their habitat, they don't need wings to fly away from their prey. 

In their natural habitat, they don't need wings to fly away from predators. Human-induced environmental changes, such as the introduction of invasive species, have had a major impact on cormorants. When early settlers introduced domestic animals such as dogs and cats to the islands, the population of wingless cormorants declined dramatically. Introduced rats also played a role, as they prefer to eat eggs or chicks. 

The Galapagos albatross is an impressive bird that, with the exception of a few small groups, breeds on the island of Española. These impressive animals are also strongly affected by environmental and climatic changes. Albatrosses also face problems related to the proximity of humans, especially the fishing industry. These birds are perfectly adapted to deep-sea fishing, but have found it easier to wait for fishermen to remove their nets from the water. 

As the albatrosses attempt to retrieve fish from the nets, they are either entangled or severely injured, contributing to the steep decline in albatross populations compared to other seabird populations. Data have been collected for many years in Peru to support these observations, but reliable data are still lacking in Ecuador.  

In principle, climatic phenomena have existed for thousands of years, and animals have become accustomed to them over the course of their evolution, having been born into this system and learned to live with it. The only problem is that the strength and frequency of El Niño periods are changing, and species need more time to recover. 

The "contact" with the fishing industry is also more or less dangerous for the different species, since fishing in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) is highly regulated. In the case of cormorants, there has even been a positive trend in numbers since 2000. The reasons for this phenomenon are still unclear. Researchers believe that there has been a change in the birds' habitat, which has helped the cormorants to find more food in the long term and to reproduce regularly. 

It is precisely these changes in the animals' habitat, whether positive or negative, that need to be monitored and recognized if seabird populations in the Galapagos are to be stabilized in the long term. To do this, long-term studies are essential. 

Birds are regularly counted, weighed, and tagged. Cloacal swabs and blood samples are taken to test for parasites and other pathogens. Body temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate are also measured. In this way, over the years, researchers are able to build up a comprehensive database of clinical and ecological data on the different species, which can be used to track changes in the species over time. Over the years, researchers have built up an extensive database of clinical and ecological data on the various species, which can be used to track changes in the birds' health or habitat.

For example, penguins on the small island of Mariela, off the west coast of Iceland, were found to be three to four times larger than those on other colonies. In this case, it is very important to find the cause of such a difference.

 Please help us continue the important monitoring of Galapagos seabirds and protect the ecosystems that are essential to the survival of penguins, cormorants, and albatrosses.