Sunday, November 4, 2012

Albatross are coming back

A lot of albatross are showing up now that the wind has shifted from the south to north.  I think it was tougher for them to fly back here against the wind.  We've seen 2 Short-tailed albatrosses so far, the one that sits by the runway, and the male of the pair on Eastern Island.  More Black-footed and Laysan albatross are showing up every day.  

We had a small Halloween party last week at Capt. Brooks' Tavern.  Nothing to crazy, since it was a Wednesday night, and our island population is pretty low right now.  A few people dressed up, but I didn't take many pics. 
 
The Short-tailed albatross sits with 3 decoys, and a few Black-footed albatross.  The real bird is the one on the right.
 
 One of the early Laysan albatrosses gets a good spot before the crowd gets in.

Here's a White tern and one of the old abandoned barracks buildings.  Speaking of White terns, we're still feeding about 10 of the chicks that we rescued from the lead paint project.

 A big net washed up on the shore of Eastern Island. 

A Brown booby was sitting on the beach near the net.
 
A Black-footed albatross flies by.  I just noticed I put up a lot of bird photos this week.  Next week I'll try to mix it up a bit more.

6 comments:

Sarah said...

I love the birds pics! You can never have too many albatross. I lack the stomach fortitude to take a pelagic boat trip, so the only ones I ever see in Oregon are deceased and washed up. I would love to visit a Pacific island and see nesting ones.

Anonymous said...

Got any snakes on Midway?

Pete Leary said...

Thanks Sarah. There are some nesting albatrosses on Oahu and some on Kauai, if you ever get to Hawaii.

Yes, we do have snakes on Midway. The same ones that are in Hawaii. They are called blind snakes and only get up to about 5 inches. We rarely ever see any of them.

Barb said...

kedsfew 13146Yeah, I really like those little blind snakes! They're about the size of earthworms, and live in soil like worms. If you look closely at one the snakes you can see tiny scales all over its body; if you're lucky, you may even see a little tongue darting in and out!

SL Liew said...

Hi Pete,
It is me again. I read that Mid-Way island is part of the a giant national park and now part of a UNESCO World Heritage where Lynas ducks and Lynas albatross are endemic.

Any chance you can send me a postcard of Mid-Way from there. I am an avid postcard collector.

I will be happy to send you a nice postcard from Penang island. Just send me your address to my email: smspenang@yahoo.com

My postal address:

SL Liew
G-8-4 Taman Bukit Jambul
11900 Penang, Malaysia

Hope it is possible for you to send a postcard of Midway from there. Thanks.

flight tickets from Honolulu to Atlanta said...

Nice Photography i like it