Google, Animal Planet, NOAA

We've got quite a bit going on around here this week.  The NOAA research ship "Oscar Elton Sette" showed up on Saturday.  They've been setting up camps to monitor Hawaiian monk seals on most of the islands up the chain.  They stayed around for a day and left for Kure Atoll this morning to bring some seal monitoring people, as well as a couple of other Kure workers.  We still have one person here taking pictures for Google maps.  They'll be uploading pictures and soon you'll be able to get the street views of Midway.  We have a film crew here too.  They are filming a show for Animal Planet, so I'll let you know when that will be coming up.  I took them out on the boat the other day to get them some spinner dolphin footage.  There are chicks of all kinds hatching everywhere, so I'll give you a couple of photos of those.

The "Oscar Elton Sette" is parked next to the cargo pier.  They brought us a bit of extra food in their freezer, and they will be taking away a load of marine debris.  Thanks!

The NOAA group that was here picking up marine debris for the last few weeks loaded all of their nets onto the ship.  They'll be at Kure Atoll picking up nets and things for a few days, then pick up more at the islands and atolls on their way back to Honolulu.

While filming some underwater shots, a Black-footed albatross fledgling started chasing around one of the crew for a few minutes.  

 This White tern chick was keeping low, trying to not get blown off of the log.

 This Sooty tern chick hatched within the last hour.

Here is another Sooty tern chick that just hatched.

The Brown noddy chicks have started hatching this week too.