EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Feeding for Two

Española Lava Lizard (Microlophus delanonis), Family Tropiduridae
Hood Mockingbird (Nesomimus macdonaldi), Family Mimidae
Galapagos Sea Lion (Zalophus wollebacki), Family Otariidae
Española (Hood) Island, Galapagos, Ecuador

Explanation:  I encountered this most unusual scene while hiking across Española (or Hood) Island, part of the Galapagos Islands archipelago.  An unfortunate juvenile Galapagos sea lion was providing a food source for two very different island denizens, in an unusual way.

I observed an Española lava lizard (endemic to this one island) and a Hood mockingbird (mostly also endemic to this island) appropriating or feeding directly on the carcass of a juvenile Galapagos sea lion. 

The mockingbird was clearly feeding directly on the carcass, whereas the lizard was acting territorial, perched on the carcass but not feeding on it.  I speculate that perhaps the lizard was feeding on insects that in turn were feeding on the carcass, much what I have observed elsewhere as a number of waterfowl and other birds feed on insects that feed on salmon carcasses in the Pacific Northwest U.S.  The mockingbird seemed tolerant of the lizard, and vice versa, perhaps as they both realized they were not in specific competition for their preferred food.  

So here was this odd trio of a lizard, a bird, and a mammal that have formed an unusual triangle for feeding for two.