Aside from the blue footed booby and a host of other
unique wildlife in Galapagos, it has a very unique species of Bureaucrat.
Isolated out here, they have developed an exquisite blend of characteristics
that sets them apart from Bureaucrats elsewhere in the world. Their prey is
almost uniquely on Eco-tourists such as ourselves, seeking them out at the
earliest opportunity. Hunting in packs of sometimes as many as 12 at a time they
swoop in on incoming yachtsman before they even have time to set foot on land.
Attracted by the Yellow Q flag that visiting yachtsman are internationally
obliged to fly as they enter a new country, they are on-board before the victim
knows it. Their prey tries in vain to fend them off, handing out money for this
and that but they don’t let up and continue to raid the fridge and the bins,
attacking anything that potentially may have lived a past life elsewhere on the
planet. The blue shirted uniform version carries a weapon, presumably to show he
is leader of this dispirit band of brothers, but all have one thing in common,
black soled clumpy shoes that they refuse to remove when boarding the vessel,
this in particular raises the hackles of its prey.
After the visiting yachtsman has started to succumb to
this initial ‘top side’ onslaught, there is an unseen and a potentially much
more serious version of the Galapagos
Bureaucrat. Attacking only the underbelly of its now reeling prey, this one
takes pictures of its chosen victims bottom, which will in time be sent many
miles away. This more subtle attack can in a few days be potentially lethal,
forcing its prey to have to exit the National Park and remove foreign bodies at
their own expense before returning when yet another attack will take
place.
By now the reeling visiting yachtsman is seriously
wounded and considering moving on to other more simpler habitats like the
Marquises, where they hope the species of Bureaucrat is less
aggressive.
Stuart BriZo
See the full
blog and pictures on www.onboardbrizo.com