Warming up

We finally had rain yesterday for the first time since I've been back.  The native plants that we planted finally get a drink.  A few ducklings didn't make it though, since it got a bit too chilly for them.  The hotter weather overall has been having an affect on the albatross chicks.  The ones that haven't been getting fed as much are finally starting to succumb to dehydration and starvation.  It happens every year, but usually the hot weather shows up earlier, so we start to lose them earlier.  If it's a normal year, about 65% of all of the eggs laid, will end up with a chick that fledges.



We've had a few Laysan ducks die from botulism in the past week, so we've got to check all of the seeps on Sand and Eastern Islands, rain or shine.  You can sort of see Sand Island through the rain.  I got pretty soaked, even with full rain gear on.

I had to wait until this young monk seal was done checking out the boat before I could start the engines.

 

This nursing monk seal pup is getting big.  That big rusty thing out in the water is an old barge that is grounded near the channel into the atoll.  

The Sooty terns always follow me around when I check the duck seeps on Eastern Island.

 The Great frigatebirds are building their nests and the males are trying to attract the females by puffing out their gular pouches.

There are fewer adults out in the fields every week.  The adult feathers are starting to come out of the down on the chicks.

 

For people who want to see pictures of more buildings than I usually post, remember that you can go to Google maps and check the street view.  You can see most of the buildings on that.  Here is an old bunker near the old fuel farm that you can't see very well on Google maps.  The entrance is in the center so it goes both directions under the sand dune.

Dolphins

 It was a quiet week with a lot of people off island right now.  The construction/repair crew is just finishing up their spring work and will take some time off before they come back in July, so it will get even quieter. 

I had a comment asking what it's like coming and going from Midway.  I've been going back and forth for about 6 years now, so I'm used to it and don't get culture shock either way anymore.  It's like anywhere you live though, you need to get away to revive your appreciation.  That works both ways.  I appreciate the mainland more for its conveniences, friends, and social activities, but I also appreciate Midway each time I come back for the simpler beauty, lack of crime, traffic, and politics.

It's been mostly sunny this week and seems like it's warming up for summer.  There are ducklings all over, and the albatross chicks are getting bigger.  A lot of the birds are laying eggs right now, Great frigatebirds, Red-footed boobies, Red-tailed tropicbirds, White terns, and Gray-backed terns so far.  Although we're all very busy around here, it's just normal work, so I won't bore you with the details.  Here are some pics.

The beach.

 

We got to see a little bit of the solar eclipse at Midway on Thursday.  We were right on the edge of the viewing zone, so this was about as good as it got.  I took this picture through a welder's mask, hence the greenish hue.

 There were a bunch of White terns following me around, seeing what I was up to.

 This is a leucistic Laysan albatross on Eastern Island.  You can tell it's not albino since it doesn't have pink eyes and has a bit of brown in the feathers.  There's one on Sand Island too, near the water tower.

 This is the same Laysan duck and ducklings that I showed you last week.  They don't grow too much in a week. 

 I was on Eastern Island checking the duck seeps and noticed a pod of spinner dolphins just off the pier.

 They followed me for a little way on my way back to Sand Island.

I slowed the boat down to try to get a count.  They are really difficult to count, but there were at least 152 in this pod.

Back Again

It was a long vacation, but I'm finally back.  I was in Washington D.C. for most of that time, but also went to Bismarck, N.D. for training and to visit my parents and a few old friends.  It was a bit cool there with -30 wind chills, then 91 in D.C. two weeks later. 

There was a big change while I was gone.  Our island population is getting smaller.  Twelve positions have gone away, so the folks left on island will get a bit busier.  Here are a few photos that I took on vacation, and a few new ones, too.

The prediction for the blooming of the cherry trees in Washington D.C., was off by about a week, so the crowd gathered around the one blooming tree.

 

Here is the same spot a few days later.  There were more trees to take pictures under so this one wasn't so popular anymore.

 

A lot of people were out enjoying the blossoms.

Some cherry blossoms with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

 

 The chicks have grown quite a bit, and there are quite a few around.

There are a lot of Laysan ducklings in the seeps now.  

 

We had some visitors from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.  They gave us grant money to help get rid of the verbesina on Eastern Island, and now Sand Island.  I'm glad they got to see what great work the crew is doing with their grant.  Here, they are on a tour of Eastern Island.

 The Sooty terns have also come back since I've been gone.  Eastern Island is loud again.

A Coast Guard C-130 came through for crew rest after conducting a search for a person who fell off of a sailboat.  They called off the search without finding him. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10029553/Search-for-missing-sailor-who-fell-into-Pacific-Ocean-called-off.html

 A group from NOAA also came to pick up marine debris while I was off Island.  They got a decent amount in their short time here.

 I think you can see why the albatross eat lighters out in the ocean.  They look a lot like the squid on the left.

 I found this dead Pacific Golden Plover while I was checking seeps on Friday.  This bottle cap was probably picked up by an albatross in the ocean, brought back to Midway and fed to a chick, then either was coughed up with other non-digestible stomach contents or was left after a dead chick decomposed, then found by this plover which then caused its death.

We got out to check on the reef.  This spectacled parrotfish is just about to take a chomp out of the coral.

Off Island Again

 I'm leaving the island again this week, so I probably won't do a blog next week.  I'll be off island for about 6 weeks, so I won't put up any Midway photos, but I may get some vacation photos up, if I do anything interesting.  I don't really have any updates, other than Wisdom's chick is still doing fine, we're all busy, and Midway is still wonderful.

 It was a beautiful, sunny, cool day today and a nice view up at Capt Brooks' Tavern.

There were hundreds of Portuguese Man-O-Wars washed up on the North Beach today.  I kept my shoes on when I walked the shoreline today.  Their sting feels like what you'd imagine a red-hot, electrified toaster element to feel like.

 

The chicks grow fast.  It was the size of the egg about 5 weeks ago.

 A chick is getting a good squid oil meal.

 This is the old cable house dining facility. 

 Most of the hibiscus trees are blooming right now so there's a lot of color.

Darlene had a birthday party at the bowling alley tonight so we had the biggest bowling crowd in a long time. 

 

It was a nice day for getting flying albatross pictures today, but it almost always is a nice day for that around here.

Back to Midway

I'm finally back from my vacation/conference/work in Alexandria, VA-Brooklyn, NY/Portland, OR/Honolulu, HI.  While I was gone, you may have heard some news from Midway.  Apparently it's big news when a 62 year old albatross has a chick.  You may have seen my pictures of Wisdom or her mate in the Washington Post, London Times, or even the Tehran Times.  John Klavitter did a great interview with "All Things Considered" on NPR.  Here's a link:

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/nprnews.php?id%5B171293615%5D=albatross%20news

It's great that so many people are interested, although I saw a lot of articles that never even mentioned that Wisdom lives at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. If you happened to miss the story you can either check out the link on Midway's News page: http://www.fws.gov/midway/whatsnew.html
or search for wisdom albatross and read one of dozens of articles.  I'm still getting quite a few photo requests for upcoming magazine articles. 

Dasha and I went to visit a friend in Brooklyn, NY for the weekend.  We didn't get into Manhattan, but we could see it from near his house.  Karl has a business called Mr. Ellie Pooh, which sells paper made of elelphant dung and other products to reduce the killing of wild elephants in Sri Lanka.  Check out: http://www.mrelliepooh.com/  

Here are a couple of his products.

 I was in Portland, OR for the Pacific Seabird Group conference.  I won't show you photos of the conference, but here's one of a band that a few of us went to in an old silent film theater in downtown, Portland.  The music was great and it was a productive conference.

 This is Wisdom's chick a couple of days ago.  This year we've got 2 leg bands on since last year's chick kicked its band off and we lost track of it since they all look alike.

Today was a beautiful day and the green sea turtles decided to soak up some sun out on Turtle Beach. 

Not all of the turtles were on the beach.  This turtle was swimming in the harbor.  I left this picture a little bigger than usual because I liked how smooth it looks in the water. You can click on it to see it in more detail.

 

This is what the harbor looked like today.  The turtle above was swimming in the far corner on the left.

 

The Red-tailed tropicbirds are returning for the breeding season.  I took this photo from the same harbor corner as the turtle.

 

A Laysan albatross chick is asking its parent for food.

Even More Chicks

It looks like about 3/4 of the albatross chicks have hatched so far.  That means there are only 100,000 or so to go.  We had no flight this week, so no new people or projects going on.  That doesn't mean I'm not keeping busy, especially since I'm leaving for a couple of weeks on Thursday.  I probably won't do a blog entry while I'm off island, but I'll be back in March.  

 We had a Super Bowl party today.  There weren't many 49er or Ravens fans here and I think there would have been more cheering if it were a Vikings/Patriots match-up.  At least it was a decent game.

 Every now and then the chicks fall out of the nests.  Sometimes the parents will move a few inches to cover them, but usually not.  They think that it's another bird's chick if it's not in the nest.  A few of the chicks haven't made it through the cool nights, so we put them back under the parents when we can.

 This Black-footed albatross chick has been left alone already.  It's a bit on the young side, but it can still be ok.

A Laysan albatross parent talks to its chick.

 Another new chick.

The dolphins followed (escorted may be a better word) us back from Eastern Island last week.