Galápagos Wildlife

A Galápagos sea lion checks out the camera in the shallows Concha de Perla on Isabela Island.

A pod of bottlenose dolphins swims near the surface of the water at Isla Seymour Norte.

A whitetip reef shark swims in a cave at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island.

A Pacific green sea turtle swims near the surf of the water at Post Office Bay on Floreana Island. Below: Pacific green sea turtles mate just off the beach at Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island.

Pacific green sea turtle and a school of rainbow wrasse feed on algae on the southern shore of Isabela Island.

A Pacific green sea turtle feeds on algae at Post Office Bay on Floreana Island.

A Mexican hogfish, known on the islands as a ‘vieja’ swims near the beach at Post Office Bay on Floreana Island.

A school of yellow-tailed surgeonfish swim near the rocks at Isla Seymour Norte.

A school of striped salema swim below the surface at Bahia Conway on Santa Cruz island.

Bumped Parrotfish feed on algae at Isla Seymour Norte.

A school of bluechin parrotfish feeds on algae growing on rocks near the shoreline of Isla Pinzon.

A pair of white-tailed damsel swim behind a congregation of green sea urchins near La Loberia on Floreana Island.

A Pacific seahorse conceals itself amongst a clump of marine grass at los Tuneles on Isabela Island.

A bravo clinid rests on a rock adjacent to the shoreline at La Loberia on Floreana Island.

A sally lightfoot crab crawls on an igneous rock on the shoreline at Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island.

A marine iguana walks along the edge of the beach at Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz island.

A Galapagos mockingbird perches atop a marine iguana on the shoreline of Espanola Island.

Detail of a marine iguana back at Puerto Velazco Ibarra on Floreana Island.

A Galapagos land iguana feeds on a flower from an opuntia - a prickly pear cactus - on the lowlands of Santa Cruz island.

Galapagos tortoises at el Chato Ranch on Santa Cruz island and at the tortoise breeding center on Isabela island. The Galapagos tortoises are native to seven different islands in the Galapagos archipelago. There are 13 subspecies of the Galapagos Tortoise with each varying slightly in size and physical characteristics. Galapagos tortoises have been documented living up to 175 years in captivity and more than 100 years in the wild.

Blue-footed boobies display courtship behavior at a nesting colony on Espanola island.

A blue-footed boobie cleans itself along the cliffs at Espanola island.

A nazca boo0bie protects a single egg on its nest at a large colony of nesting boobies at Punta Suarez on Espanola island.

A nazca boobie adult and chick at a large colony of nesting boobies at Punta Suarez on Espanola island.

A male magnificent frigate bird displays the iconic red pouch at a large nesting colony of both great and magnificent frigate birds on Isla Seymour Norte. Below: An American flamingo, a black necked stilt, an American oystercatcher and a lava heron forage and rest along the shoreline of Santa Cruz. island near Dragon Hill.

An American flamingo preens after feeding in a small lagoon on Floreana island. Below: Yellow crowned night heron details from the shoreline of Floreana island.

A yellow crowned night heron forages at first light along the shoreline of Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz island.

A Galapagos mockingbird perches on a branch while foraging in the lowlands of San Cristobal island. The Galapagos mockingbird is an endemic species that is widespread in the archipelago. There are six subspecies of the Galapagos mockingbird that are found on particular islands.

Corporate Office Space - Large Format Print Installation

These 14 oversize prints from my collection of boat bow photographs were hung yesterday (1.23.2023) at a corporate office space in Newark, Delaware. The company's creative director, Libby Woolover, did an incredible job curating the installation. Libby arranged the prints on the wall based upon how the colors and symmetry together worked together. Her creative eye with incredible attention to detail helped me see some of these boat bow photographs in a different light.

These prints were done in my studio using a large format Epson printer with archival canvas and inks.

James Island land loss - from the perspective of Dr. Darrin Lowrey

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Maps illustrate the loss of land on James Island from 1847 when the landmass totaled approximately 995 acres to 2013 when the landmass totaled approximately 13 acres.

Aerial photograph of James Island in 1946 - note the same red arrow used as reference point as in the above maps.

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The Log Road that once existed on James Island was once used to haul equipment and machinery over low lying portions of the salt marsh on the edge of the island. Loblolly timbers were once harvested from James Island by the use of this road.

The photograph on the left taken in 1958 by A. Aubrey Bodine shows a log road that existed on James in the mid 20th century. Dr. Lowrey found the exact location of this log road and photographed it from the same angle as the Bodine photograph in 2014 to illustrate the loss of land.

During his visit to the island in 2014, Dr. Lowrey found that the log road had been buried approximately one foot under the surface of the island due to compaction and sediment over wash of the island.

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Photographs of the same fragment of James Island between 2011 and 2018. By making trips out to James during the first two decades of the 21st century, Dr. Lowrey was able to show the dramatic changes in the island’s shoreline.

Documenting the end of an era for James Island, Maryland

James Island at the mouth of the Little Choptank River is a landmass that totaled approximately 1350 acres when it was first settled in the 1660’s. At one point, the landmass was connected to the mainland of neighboring Taylor’s Island in Dorchester County, Maryland. By the late 1870’s, the island hosted a small community with two dozen homes, a store, and a school house. The community on the island was eventually abandoned due to the visible signs of the island washing away with the erosive forces of the Chesapeake. In the 20th century the island was used for harvesting timber (loblolly pines) and a hunting preserve for waterfowl and the introduced sika deer. Erosion continued to eat away at the island’s landmass, eventually breaking the once contiguous landmass into multiple islets or fragments. The once thriving coastal pine forest continued to fall into the bay and by late 2022/early 2023 all of the trees on the island had become obstructions to boaters navigating the shallow waters in search of fish and waterfowl.

During my time working on Island Life, I visited James Island three times to document how the forces of the Chesapeake were changing the landscape. I launched my skiff from Slaughter Creek which is approximately six miles by water to the island. I would set up camp on the island to take advantage of the late evening light and early morning light while shooting this series. James was included in the ‘Islands of the Past’ chapter of the book with islands like Hollands, Bloodsworth, Poplar and Watts - all formerly inhabited islands that had been abandoned by full time residents. During my last visit to James Island in January 2023, it was obvious that the days were numbered for the landmass - the island fragments were significantly smaller than they were during my previous visits and nearly all of the vegetation that could help suppress the erosion was gone. It is likely that all traces of James Island will be completely gone within the next year.

The fate of the James is similar to that of Poplar Island which lies approximately 20 miles to the north in Talbot County. Like James, Poplar was once inhabited and by the late 1990’s had eroded down to island fragments that were a small fraction of the size when they were first surveyed. Since the early 2000’s Poplar Island has been rebuilt in a collaborative effort between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Port Authority with material dredged from the shipping channels of the Upper Chesapeake Bay. Poplar has been restored to approximately 1700 acres and is nearly at capacity with dredge material. Looking for a new location to dispose of dredge material, the Army Corps has had its sights set on James and Barren Island (approximately 10 miles to the south of James) - this project is known as the Mid Chesapeake Bay Island Ecosystem Restoration. Once complete, the $1.9 billion project is set to bring the landmass of James Island to approximately 2100 acres and add 72 acres to Barren Island. Work on James is projected to begin in 2024 with the creation of a rip rap (stone) perimeter and in 2028 dredge material will be barged in and added to recreate the island. The recreation of the island will help maintain access in the bay’s channels for large ships while recreating historical wildlife habitat and protecting adjacent shores on the mainland from erosion.

The photographs below in this blog post illustrate the changes in the landscape on James Island from 1928 to 2023.

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January 2023

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December 2021

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April 2019

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Historic Photographs

Island resident Captain J. Everett Dean at his home on James Island, Md, 1928. Courtesy of family photo collection of Stephanie Coleman Elliott, source: The Grace Foundation

A collection of photographs from the late 1950’s and early 1960’s by Baltimore Sun photographer Aubrey Bodine. Courtesy of Jennifer Bodine and the A. Aubrey Bodine Collection. Source www.aaubreybodine.com

Top left: looking west at James Island from the Little Choptank River. May 1963
Top Middle: a road made by loggers that cut through the marshy areas of James Island. Timber was harvested from the island for years - contributing to the accelerated erosion of the island. March 1960
Top Right: marsh and upland on James Island. 1959
Bottom Left: James Island caretaker Carl Bush holds the skull of a sika deer, a small deer indigenous to Asia that was introduced to James Island in 1916
Bottom Right: the last structure on James Island was the caretakers cabin where caretaker Carl Bush and his wife lived.

James Island in May of 1982. Photograph courtesy Chesapeake Bay Program/Kent Mountford - www.chesapeakebay.net/news/blog/a-scientists-decades-long-portrait-of-a-vanishing-chesapeake-island

Aerial photograph of James Island in 1999 with the northwestern point of Taylors Island on the top left portion of the frame. Photograph courtesy of David Harp