Midway morning

The weather has been nice this week and so have the sun rises and sunsets. Here is this mornings sun rise. Nothing short of spectacular.

It really is that blue

It's hard to imagine water that color and it's just hard to believe it even when it's right there in front of you. We've had some really nice days lately, we took advantage and went snorkeling. The water was so clear and there were a lot of fish. I only wish I had one of those waterproof cases for my camera so I could take some underwater pictures.

Black-footed Albatross Chick

Here's a new arrival on Midway, a Black-footed Albatross chick. Pretty adorable.

Chicks are hatching!

There are a lot of chicks hatching out there and more everyday. The Black-foots are in full swing right now and the Laysans are sure to follow. We did see the first Laysan chick on Sunday so it won't be long. Here's a picture of a Black-footed chick and the proud parent.

Midway's Most Wanted

If albatross has something like "Midway's Most Wanted" I think these are some mug shots you might see on there.

Albatross crash landing

Well, they are certainly masters of the air, it's when they come down to dry land that the problems begin. Here's an less-than-ideal landing by a Laysan Albatross. I like the way they just walk away like nothing happened.

Walk like a Laysan

For comparison, here is the Laysan Albatross walk. They keep their head up which makes them bob much more than a Black-footed. You gotta love the gooney bird.

Baby Black-footed Albatross

We found the first chick of the season this morning. It's not much of a picture because we didn't want to disturb them too much. Two other birds had chicks pecking through the eggs. It won't be long.

Black-foots generally hatch about a week or two before Laysans, I'll post some of them before long.

Laysan Duck

There aren't a lot of places you can go and see four endangerd species all in the matter of one day. Midway happens to be one of those places. The Short-tailed Albatross, the Hawaiian Monk Seal, the Green Sea Turtle, and the critters in the picture, the Laysan Duck. Technically they are the Laysan Teal but they are a duck all the same. These guys were down to 12 individuals at one time and now number well over 200 on Midway alone. There were none on Midway until 2004 and 2005 when the Fish and Wildlife Service dug several small ponds on both islands and brought ducks from Laysan Island. They brought 22 one year and 20 the next and apparently they love it here because their number have increased dramatically. They are really cute ducks and like a lot of birds here they have little fear of humans so it's easy to get close and watch them.

Short-tailed Albatross

So the Short-tailed Albatross or "Golden Gooney" I mentioned earlier was on Eastern Island which is just east of Sand Island (the inhabited island). That bird has been observed there for some time, alone, dancing with some decoys they have placed there to attract more short-tails. On Friday the refuge biologist and another person found that there were two birds, one sub-adult and the adult with the golden head. This is very exciting because it means there is a possibility of short-tails nesting here and possibly expanding their range. They are endangered and their main breeding site is on an active volcanic island near Japan. Probably no nesting this year but it's a promicing start.

The picture is of two sub-adult (because they don't have the golden head yet) Short-tailed Albatrosses, I think they estimated that they are about 5 years old. They were on Sand Island together and we think it is one of these two that made their way to Eastern Island and found the golden headed one.

Here is a picture of the adult and the sub-adult dancing on Eastern Island. A very rare event, not many people get to see Short-tailed Albatross dancing.

Black-footed Albatross dancing

"Golden Gooney"

This is the so called "Golden Gooney" also known as the Short-tailed Albatross. They were once very common in the north Pacific but are now endangered and limited to mainly one island near Japan. There are a grand total of three on Midway, this one is the only one in full adult plumage, the other two are sub-adults with a mostly brown head. A very rare bird!

Rainbow

Rainbows are always popular...

On the beach

I have very few pictures of myself on here so I thought I would add one. Me on the beach at sunset.

Black-footed Albatross walk

Black-footed and Laysan Albatross have very distinct ways of walking. Here's the black-footed, they walk with their head down and forward whereas the Laysan head is more upright. The black-footed looks like it has a bad back. They're pretty cute.

Sunrise

This one blew me away...

Pygmy Sperm Whale

There was some excitement yesterday evening when someone found this Pygmy Sperm Whale washed up on the beach. As you can tell, it looks as though some sharks had gotten to it and took a few bits. No one is quite sure what we are going to do with it but there is a possibility that they will bury it and let it rot then dig it up in a couple of years and ship the skeleton off somewhere. Apparently it's a pretty rare animal. It's not a very big whale, it was just under 7 feet long.

Up close and personal

These birds are so cool, it's really unbelievable to be able to just walk up to them or sit down next to them and the vast majority of them have very little problem with you. Their personal space is very small, maybe 12 inches. They let you know when you're too close, they will draw blood.

Historic Midway

These are some of the large paintings in the old theater here on Midway. It's a huge task for the Fish and Wildlife Service to take care of all the historic Navy buildings but they try. This is one example of the kinds of things they want to preserve. The paintings are interesting, they definently have an old, very patriotic feel to them. They say that Midway is the only National Wildlife Refuge with its own theater, bowling alley, gym... etc. The Navy left a lot of stuff...

Hybrid Albatross

No, I'm not talking about a highly fuel efficient albatross or one with an electric motor. This is a albatross with one parent who was a Laysan and the other was a Black-footed. They can vary quite a lot but this one seems to have equal amounts of characteristics from both parents. He's pretty cute.