As I step among poop-covered rocks toward the plateau of a small island in the Galápagos, a part of me rejoices. Not only am I about to see the archipelago’s famed blue-footed boobies for the first time, but the sight of guano everywhere, and birds to make fresh batches, serves as a reminder: The ongoing avian influenza outbreak has not yet ravaged this picturesque place.
Ghostly, leafless Palo Santo trees and saltbushes sprinkle the island, surrounded by boulders in varying shades of red-tinged black and brown. White splotches of guano splattered on rocks are hard to miss against this arid landscape on North Seymour Island in November, the tail
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