Oahu

I'm in Honolulu for 2 weeks, but I have enough for a blog entry this week.  On Midway, the albatross chicks are hatching and it looks like over half of them are out already.  I also didn't tell you about one of the monk seals on Midway.  A couple of National Marine Fisheries Service monk seal workers came out to catch one of the seals that was attacking young seals.  Here's an article about it.

http://www.kitv.com/r/30376242/detail.html

I didn't help out on the capture of this seal since I was out in the boat doing the medevac that I wrote about last week.  But I did help move the cage when the C-130 came to pick it up.  The cage weighed over 200 pounds, plus the seal at about 450 lbs., so it took about 8 people to lift it. 

Chris Jordan came back out with his crew this week.  I'd like to be around for their visit, but I'll be at the Pacific Seabird Group Meeting.  You can check up on Chris' film project at:  http://www.midwayjourney.com/

They've got some really good video and writeups on there, as ususal.

Honolulu is also the same as usual.  Warm, mostly sunny, and a lot of traffic.  And by the way, the last half of the photos aren't Midway.

A few hours before I left on the plane, a Short-tailed albatross showed up in the Midway House yard.  I put some decoys near it, but it didn't seem to care and it left a bit later.  They've been coming to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a lot this year.  There have been 3 on Kure, 5 at Midway (not counting the chick), 1 on Laysan Island, and 1 on Tern Island. 

 This little chick is asking for some food.

The chick is getting its squid oil.

 This Laysan albatross isn't quite sure what to think about this Bonin petrel.  They are not out in the daytime very often, and this one went down its hole pretty quickly.

 I went on a hike with the other people staying in the bunkhouse on the Kuliouou Ridge Trail.  It was a nice one.  (Not a Midway pic)

 I don't know these people, but it was a nice view of the trail.

 Here's a view of Diamondhead from the back.  You can see a plane coming in for a landing at the airport.

 This is a view of Hawaii Kai.  This is a Red-vented bulbul.  It looks nice, but is invasive.

 Leanne is coming down a steep part of the trail.

 This is looking toward Waimanalo Beach.

Here's another non-native bird.  This is a White rump sharma.  They are also fairly common, but not native to Hawaii.