More Inspiration From the Galapagos - Birds

The Galapagos really was the trip of a lifetime.  The ship was terrific, the crew and fellow passengers were amiable and interesting, but really the best part was the wildlife. The guides were so knowledgeable about all the different species and their place and contribution to the development of our knowledge about evolution. The isolation of the islands (600 miles from Ecuador) combined with the respect and protection shown by humans to the animals has resulted in a place where the animals have little fear and allow us to approach them. We got to get very close and get some good shots. Too bad my camera malfunctioned half way through the trip and I had to use my cell phone for the rest of the trip. I have hundreds of great pics still stuck in my camera - waiting for me to take it to be repaired. Thanks to anonymous photographers for the pics below. I'll replace them with ones I took after my camera gets fixed. I hope I am not violating any copyrights.

After experiencing all these wonderful animals, my mind immediately went to a sampler quilt. Maybe a 4 by 4 with a block for each animal, or a "scene" with all the animals and birds in their habitat. I could either print out my pics on fabric, using the special printer fabric, or convert them to applique and use batiks and thread painting. I'm not sure yet, but I do know that I'm going to include 16 animals, birds, and reptiles.
Lets start with the birds. 
Darwin Finches - tiny but important to the scientific community!






The booby brothers - blue-footed, red-footed, and nazca boobies. They all had the most unusual expression on their little birdy faces.

We saw a group of Galapagos flamingos in a lagoon doing a very coordinated dance. No sign of the choreographer or director.



The frigate bird (red throat) and albatross.  The albatrosses do an adorable mating dance - clicking their bills together.

We saw a lot of swallow tail gulls sitting on eggs.





And finally the Galapagos penguin. It's small compared to other penguins and absolutely too cute.

Whether they were sitting on eggs, flying, swimming, dancing, mating, fishing, or napping, the birds were interesting and beautiful. Perfect subjects for a quilt!