Galapagos Birding Tours

Get up close to a host of species who have no fear of humans!

Galapagos Birding Tours

From Galapagos Penguins to Waved Albatross, Flightless Cormorants to Lava Gulls, the Galapagos Islands make for a great birding holiday with one of the highest rates of endemism of any archipelago. For birders Galapagos also offers the sheer joy of getting up close to a host of species which literally have no fear of humans!

Tailor-made Holidays created just for you with all the support and guidance you need

Book with confidence, expert advice and support for you throughout your trip

Responsible Travel, better trips for you, better for wildlife, better for local communities

ATOL Protected
Give Rachel a Call

Company founder and Galapagos expert, Rachel is on hand to help you plan your trip of a lifetime!

01482 887 453

Rachel
tg blue banner

Galapagos and Ecuador Birding Tour Ideas

Combining Galapagos with Ecuador makes for a fantastic birding holiday. This suggested birding trip offers the chance to see upwards of 500 species to give a taste of what is possible to include. Each Galapagos birding holiday we create for our guests is always unique and tailored to your specific interests and target birds.

Why Choose Us?

We listen to you. We take the time to understand what you want your Galapagos trip of a lifetime to be. We then we use our decades of experience and unrivalled network of local contacts and team of top guides to make it happen.

ATOL Protected

“We understand travelling is more complicated now than before COVID. That’s why you need to use a company you can trust every step of the way.”

Travel in a time of uncertainty…

Now travel has resumed, planning your Galapagos holiday should be a source of excitement, but making sense of all the travel regulations can be a headache. We follow developments in Ecuador, Peru and Galapagos incredibly closely so we have all the latest information on hand.

Having all the latest information and expert teams on the ground helps us take the uncertainty out of your planning and give you the confidence to book, secure in the knowledge we have you covered! If you want to find out the latest advice on travel to Ecuador, Galapagos and Peru please contact us

Guest Reviews

Every single day was brilliant!
Corrina Matt
Read More
It was simply fantastic, every single day was brilliant! All was superbly planned and happened as planned... It has been a magical experience all round.
One of the most exciting holidays
Margaret Tindale
Read More
Ecuador and Galapagos was for me one of the most exciting holidays I have ever experienced. Travelling with Think Galapagos made the holiday even more special.
A seamless memorable trip
Bill and Lillian Lubyk
Read More
The team are passionate about what they do, and have the knowledge and contacts to create the type of journey that fits your travel style. A seamless, memorable trip, even at such short notice.
Absolutely fantastic holiday
Garry and Gillian Hawkins
Read More
An absolutely fantastic holiday! The Amazon was brilliant, and Galapagos was just magical. This has been an absolute holiday of a lifetime for us and we would recommend you to anyone.
Like living in a nature documentary
Dr Kayleigh Wyles
Read More
It felt like we were living in a nature documentary, seeing so many unusual and unique species, but also able to observe their natural behaviour. The staff were very friendly and accommodating, were great in offering vegetarian alternatives for me.
Previous
Next

GALAPAGOS Wildlife CRUISES

All our Galapagos wildlife holidays have a naturalist-led cruise at their heart. Because the islands are spread over more than 200 km, by visiting on board a live-aboard Galapagos wildlife cruise, this enables you to reach the most remote and pristine parts of the archipelago

Navigating mostly at night means you to spend the best parts of the day for wildlife watching with early morning and late afternoon land visits. Then in the middle of the day you can experience some of the amazing Galapagos wildlife below the water, with some of the best snorkelling in the world.

When to visit?

Although Galapagos is a year-round destination, for birders our favourite time is mid-April through mid-June. This is when the arrival of nutrient rich cold water currents triggers the sea birds to go into courtship mode. This is quite a spectacle particularly on the island of Genovesa (Tower) with the calls and puffed up red chests of the male frigate birds. Also on Espanola with the Waved Albatross back, these beautiful birds who mate for life will be also in full courtship mode.

Request a video chat

Want to chat through your plans face to face? Fill in our form and request a video chat and we’ll be in touch with the details.

Galapagos Bird Watching Holiday TRAVEL GUIDE

Dedicated birding cruises are rare now in Galapagos which usually means the best way for birders to experience Galapagos is on board a general interest wildlife cruise. Helping you pick the best cruise for you is where Think Galapagos and our expertise comes in. We can help finding the best wildlife cruise, with the best itinerary and superb naturalist guides. Often we find a good way to boost the number of endemics you can see is to add time on in Santa Cruz Island after your cruise in the company of your own private Galapagos National Park guide so you can really focus and go in search of some of the endemics found here.

The best way to start planning your Galapagos birding trip is to give us a call or contact us via email. We are always delighted to help answer any questions you may have. In case it is helpful, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about birding tours in Galapagos.

What is the best cruise itinerary for a Galapagos birding tour?

Our preference for birders, particularly for those visiting around May time, is for the itineraries that focus on the Eastern part of Galapagos and which include the outpost islands for seabirds of Genovesa and Espanola. The only down side to the 8 day itineraries that include these two islands is that they never include Fernandina or the Northern and Western parts of Isabela island which are the only place that you can see the iconic flightless cormorant which are only included in Western itineraries. For birders who want to see the flightless cormorants as well as Espanola and Genovesa Islands, there are some yachts that have good itinerary combinations which allow you do see all these islands in 10 days.

Do you recommend a 15 day cruise?

Yes! For those of you looking to see as many endemic species as possible, our recommendation would be if you can to go for a full 15 day cruise, although it is virtually impossible to see all of the endemic birds in Galapagos, most notably the Mangrove Finch which is critically endangered now and only found in an area of mangroves in Western Isabela Island with strict restrictions on access, access to the highlands of Floreana to see the Medium Tree Finch is quite difficult and access to Champion and Gardner Islets to see the Floreana Mockingbird is now near impossible. Here is our blog with some details on the work to save the Mangrove Finch.

Should I add on birding time in Santa Cruz Island?

We highly recommend birding guests spend a bit of extra time in a hotel in Santa Cruz Island after your cruise to boost your bird count. One of the challenges for birders on a general wildlife cruise, is that your Galapagos National Park guide will have to balance the interests of the entire group during your island visits. This means in many cases it won’t be possible to go in search of the harder to find endemics found on certain islands, although in most cases the endemic birds are there and hard to be missed.

To ensure that you can get in a few more of the harder to spot endemics, in particular some of the finches we recommend that birding guests add a day or two onto their cruise in the island of Santa Cruz. We usually then hire a Galapagos National Park guide to accompany you as you go in search of some of the endemics to be found here with a little bit of searching, including the Galapagos Rail and the Woodpecker finch to name but two. There are a number of hotels we work with in Santa Cruz island ranging from a lovely family run B&B to a luxury 5* hotel and everything in between!

GALAPAGOS ENDEMIC BIRD LIST

We do love a list, and thought we would share with you the 26 endemic species found in Galapagos using the taxonomy proposed by the International Ornithologists Union. In the list are the four species of Galapagos Mockingbird which were the true inspiration for Charles Darwins work on the theory of evolution, even though often it is finches which are often given the credit for this!

Galápagos dove

Zenaida galapagoensis

Galápagos crake

Laterallus spilonota (Also known as Galápagos rail)

Lava gull

Leucophaeus fuliginosus

 

Galápagos penguin

Spheniscus mendiculus

Flightless cormorant

Phalacrocorax harrisi

Lava heron     

Butorides sundevalli  

Galápagos hawk

Buteo galapagoensis

Large-billed flycatcher

Myiarchus magnirostris

Galapagos mockingbird

Mimus parvulus

Floreana mockingbird

Mimus trifasciatus (Also known as Charles Island mockingbird)

Hood mockingbird

Mimus macdonaldi (Also known as Española mockingbird)

San Cristóbal mockingbird

Mimus melanotis (Also known as Chatham mockingbird)

Large ground finch    

Geospiza magnirostris

Medium ground finch

Geospiza fortis

Small ground finch

Geospiza fuliginosa

Sharp-beaked ground finch

Geospiza difficilis       

Common cactus finch

Geospiza scandens

Española cactus finch

Geospiza conirostris

Vegetarian finch

Platyspiza crassirostris

Large tree finch

Camarhynchus psittacula

Medium tree finch

Camarhynchus pauper

Small tree finch

Camarhynchus parvulus

Woodpecker finch

Camarhynchus pallidus

Mangrove finch

Camarhynchus heliobates

Green warbler-finch

Certhidea olivacea

Grey warbler-finch

Certhidea fusca

ECUADOR AND GALAPAGOS BIRD LIST
This downloadable list of the birds of Ecuador and Galapagos will give you a taste of the huge array of birdlife you can see by combining the two destinations, in what has to be one of the best birding tour combinations.