Albatross Chicks

So call me a sap, but I've been here two weeks and I still have a hard time not breaking out in high-pitched squeals whenever I sit down and watch an albatross chick. It's extremely unscientific of me, but really, how can you not?

When I first arrived in late February, most were only a couple weeks old and looked like this:

While standing on their heels, they would twist around and snap their bill at any passersby.

Two weeks later and it looks as though they've swallowed a bowling ball. It takes considerable more effort to stand up so they seem to prefer laying on their big bellies.

This is what I feel like after a good meal at the Clipper House.

This is what I've learned so far: It takes tremendous energy for a mated pair of albatrosses to successfully raise a chick. Breeders will often skip a year to recover and conserve energy. After an egg is laid, both parents take turns incubating the egg for a whopping 65 days! They will feed the chick - sometimes flying incredible distances to forage - for 5 more months until it is ready to fledge. If one of the adults dies during this time, the chick will not survive. Not to worry though - on Midway, the fledging success is an impressive 86%!

I look forward to watching them grow. We can compare belly sizes.

The frizzies

I looked in the mirror the other day and discovered that I'm looking more and more like the locals:



I tried to get the facial expression just right. How'd I do?

So, I have a pretty sweet gig here.

I wasn't planning on keeping a blog here at all, and I'm still a bit sheepish about having one, but after experiencing so many wonderful things in just my first few days here on Midway I've decided to try and share this experience with people who might be interested. Hopefully that group will include at least one person besides my mother. I promise only humble observations and maybe even some decent pictures, if you're lucky.

Where to start? I guess I should say that I'm here as a volunteer for U.S. Fish and Wildlife and I am helping them specifically with monitoring the seabird populations and restoring the habitat. (That last one is code for pulling weeds and picking up litter). I'll be here for only three months but I am so excited about gaining some valuable field experience and also making a discernible difference on the island.

So! Upon arriving here on Midway two weeks ago, I quickly found that there are unusual concentrations of many good things here. First and most obvious, you have the hundreds of thousands of seabirds flying in the air and nesting on the ground. If you know me then you know that this is rather thrilling. Like pee-your-pants thrilling. Then you have the world's friendliest and sweetest people all on one tiny island. Seriously - I've never met so many welcoming people in my life. I guess living in paradise will do that to you. And finally, and perhaps most exciting of all, people cook copious amounts of delicious food for you! And it's free! I can assure you that I'm fully taking advantage of this wonderful situation (packin' on the pounds, baby!).

Good, good people

The Clipper House (dining hall)

Um, yes. So when I'm not eating, I find myself banding albatross chicks, checking tropicbird nests, cloning native bunchgrass, boating to the next island over (with a pod of dolphins no less), and biking to a beach. I feel I should inquire if it's possible to become a professional volunteer forever.

More to come later. For my fellow bird nerds, I leave a list of birds that I've seen so far on the island.

• Laysan Albatross
• Bonin Petrel
• Black-footed Albatross
• Magnificent Frigatebird
• Pacific Golden Plover
• White Tern
• Common Canary
• Black Noddy
• Brown Booby
• Common Myna
• Bristle-thighed Curlew
• Laysan Duck
• Short-tailed Albatross
• Red-footed Booby
• Wandering Tattler
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Northern Pintail
• Eurasian Wigeon
• Sooty Tern