Genovesa Island

Overview

Known as “Bird Island,” Genovesa is one of the most important seabird breeding sites in the Galápagos, formed by a partially collapsed volcanic caldera.

Geology & Formation

The island is essentially the exposed rim of a collapsed caldera — Darwin Bay, where most visits begin, sits within the crater itself.

Landscape

Cliffs, rocky shoreline, and low scrub vegetation well suited to ground- and shrub-nesting seabirds.

Wildlife You May Encounter

Large colonies of red-footed and Nazca boobies, frigatebirds, and storm-petrels. Short-eared owls hunt petrels here during daylight, an unusual habit for an owl, and the swallow-tailed gull — the world’s only fully nocturnal gull — nests on the cliffs.

Visitor Sites

Darwin Bay and Prince Philip’s Steps (El Barranco), a steep trail up to a plateau dense with nesting seabirds.